HELEN MAURER
Good Fortune 2022 copper coins and audio
"I wanted to share a story with you, that I was told on a recent trip to Venice.
It was the first time that I had been to the city, and on the evening before travelling, I watched a programme on Venetian gardens. I hadn't realised the canals are tidal. In the programme many people spoke of a devastating flood where a freak high tide put Venice underwater.
We were staying with friends and one evening they invited their neighbour, a keen gardener, to join us for dinner. We began speaking about her experience of the flood and she said that in the centre of her garden she had a fish pond with 17 goldfish in it. On the night of the storm, the garden filled up with water, over the pond, over the flowers, over the bushes... and the fish escaped. The following day, the tide had gone down and she was able to go downstairs. She opened her front door and there, on her doorstep were 3 of her goldfish - still alive! She went into the garden and bailed the salt water out of her pond and replaced it with fresh water so that she could put her fish back in. She then went for a walk to assess the damage, and at the end of her street she found another fish! I'm not sure if it was held in a puddle or if there was still some water but she was able to transport it back to the pond. She then started actively looking, and by the end of the day, she had recovered 16 of her 17 fish.
The following morning - 36 hours after the flood, she discovered her last goldfish under leaves, lying out of water, with its gills still moving a tiny bit. She carried it carefully to the pond and it sunk to the bottom like a stone. Within 24 hours it had recovered and was able to swim again.
I have since discovered that fish are very territorial, they tend to live in the same place and have a strong homing instinct.
I had a dream about the goldfish as fortune fish or 'miracle fish' as they are sometimes known, the ones you can place on your hand to make a prediction.
In China and Japan, fish are a symbol of good luck and in Tarot cards and tea-leaves they represent fortune or money. We throw lucky coins into ponds to make wishes, I began to wonder if pennies could make fishes?
I flattened some pennies and slowly the fish emerged. The process involves heating the coins and plunging them into water to anneal them, then passing them through a milling machine many times, quite extreme conditions.
I went to visit Petra, my Jewellery friend, to fix on their tails and on the way to her studio, I was caught in a freak hailstorm and I was completely wet through.
Later in the same week, my friend Dom was putting together a live broadcast for a local radio show. She had asked me to be involved so I decided to tell the story of the goldfish and to make some sound effects by plunging different objects into water. When I arrived, the room was full of teenagers taking it in turns to rap and play instruments. I was the only adult, there was no water and I had terrible stage-fright.
Afterwards, Dom said that she thought it was interesting that I had sat telling the story with an empty washing up bowl. Coincidently over half of the performers were Pisces, a room half full of fish." - Helen Maurer
To listen to the story please use the QR code below with your phone:
