Introducing the Murmuration Collaboration

What, why and who: an introduction by Kati Paakki

Image: Murmuration, Menno Schaefner

Cambridge dictionary definition of murmuration: uk / ˈmɜː.məˈreɪ.ʃ ə n / us / ˈmɝː.mɚˈeɪ.ʃ ə n / a large group of birds, usually starlings, that all fly together and change direction together, or the act of birds doing this.

I am one of the 15 weavers who were chosen to participate in the Waterline collaboration project.  This project has had a huge positive impact on my weaving life.  I learned new skills, made new friends and my confidence as a weaver has grown.  As the project was coming to an end in 2022, I still needed my fix of friendly faces, having a laugh, talking tapestry whilst working towards our common goal. 

Starling murmurations are one of the most dazzling displays in the natural world.  This special kind of flock is named for the sound of a low murmur it makes from thousands of wingbeats and soft flight calls. I remember the balmy late summer evenings of my youth in Western Finland watching starlings perform their aerial dance in the open skies.  Decades later the soft murmur peppered by sharp calls of swifts still echo in my ears. I have wanted to capture that feeling in a tapestry for some time, but I didn’t think I had the skills to express the shape shifting beauty of the movement.

Image: Common starling, Soru Epotok

I hoped some of my Waterline sisters would join me in a collaboration and was pleasantly surprised to discover that murmuration has captured the imagination of so many of us.  The timing and time commitment of the project meant that some weavers couldn’t join us for Murmuration, but we are delighted to be a group of twelve: myself; Joan Baxter; Nita Bruce; Irene Evison; Jenny Heard; Yonat Michaelov; Christine Rivers; Minna Rothman; Kennita Tully; Katrine West; Anna Wetherell; Veronique van Zeeland.

I didn’t have any lofty ideas; I didn’t want to dictate the design or the outcome.  My only criterion was that one murmuration would be shared by all the participants in their tapestries. Little did I know that we were about to embark on a wonderful, complex project culminating in an unusual, exciting composite tapestry.

The Murmuration is a legacy project of Waterline.  It has many similarities, but it also differs in some ways; such as there is no single leader or her vision to follow.  Right from the start all decisions have been made by the group, such as the shape of the composition, the colour palette and the operational matters that come with organising an exhibition.  We had many incarnations of the overall design, but more about that in another article.

Please follow us on our journey towards creating Murmuration.

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