What Is a Wounded Place?
We go to wounded places to find and make beauty and in the process discover courage, creativity, and a deeper appreciation of our connection with both places and people we may previously have overlooked.
But what is a wounded place?
A place can be “wounded” in many ways. It’s wounded if it’s undergone damage by natural or human causes. It’s wounded if the eco-system isn’t thriving. It’s wounded if an act of violence has happened there. Mainly, you know it’s wounded if you feel sad or concerned about what’s happened to it.
Here are a few of the many wounded places where people from our RadJoy network have made beauty:
- a melting glacier
- the town where a young man was shot and killed
- a dying tree
- a polluted river
- a village where children were killed in a tsunami
- an invasive plant
- a littered beach
- dolphins
- a sacred mountain used for Cold War spy towers
- a city block of houses about to be torn down for a development
- Stonehenge
At our annual event, the Global Earth Exchange, people around the world go to wounded places and bring attention and beauty to them. But you can do this simple practice any time for any place. For suggestions see our 101 Ways to Make Guerrilla Beauty or read the STORIES on our website.
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