Wishing Sticks Project

Wishing Sticks is a participative project where people are asked to make a wish with a handmade divining rod while I photograph them in the act of wishing. The wish always remains private, but the moment of making the wish is held in time in the photo.

Bayersiches Schulmuseum, Ichenhausen, 2021; Alps Art Academy, Tenna, Switzerland, 2016; Blickfang, Munich, Nice, Port Bou, 2014

The first idea Wishing Sticks Project was inspired by the poem ‘Space’ by Cliona O’Connell. At the time, I was working in the space industry with earth observation satellites and imagery. I began to think of Space is the final frontier, a new colonial project, as well as outer-space as a metaphor for our dreams and imagination. 

​O’Connell’s poem suggests that the distance between earth and space is only ‘sixty-two miles’ (99 kilometres). And, while thinking about this, two things occurred to me. Firstly, water is the key thing scientists are looking for in space, and secondly, only through dreaming and believing has the space program developed so far, which shows that believing in something is half the journey to achieving it.
 
In this project the divining rod symbolises the idea of searching, looking beyond what is visible and known in everyday life, to explore other ideas while maintaining hope. We all have wishes, desires, hopes and dreams, and sometimes we need assistance to achieve them. Just as we have embraced the original abstract notion of space, we may also believe in the power of the divining rod to lead us to an answer or fulfil a wish.

Images © Penelope Richardson

SPACE

“It’s all just hype
and hyperbole you know:
the final frontier,
rushing away from us
at god knows how many
light years a second;
because space isn’t far,
just sixty-two miles
as the hummingbird flies
and if we could drive
straight up
we’d be there in an hour.”
​
© Cliona O’Connell