Around the world lighthouses guide marine traffic safely in dangerous conditions.
Lighthouses come in many forms but they all fulfil the same essential function: acting as beacons to warn of danger or act as signallers to safe havens. In Shetland some of the lighthouses that dot the coast were designed and built by the Stevenson family (Robert Louis, the writer, was part of the same family), and in Te Waipounamu/ the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand there are two wooden versions, one of which, Waipapa Point, is shown below.
In 2011 a devastating tsunami hit Japan after an earthquake offshore. The tsunami caused a major nuclear accident in the country and more than 18,500 people were killed. It was a major event in a country that experiences more than 1,500 quakes a year.
In 2018 a quilt, Over the Waves, was created by Setsuko Matsushima to honour those who died the disaster. The maker hoped the light emanating from the houses would be received by all people as a ray of hope. The quilt won the Houston International Quilt Festival that year. Isn’t it an astonishing and beautiful work of art?
Image courtesy of the Quilt Show.
Leave a Reply