Prosperity Talisman

“It’s just an illusion that lots of money brings happiness.”

I overheard this cliché remark as I waited in a bank queue.

Of course, the rationally-minded will admit that it has not been a case of money’s effect on happiness, but rather the attitude towards money that has in some cases, overrated its effect.

The person behind me continued his conversation with statements such as, “The illusion that money makes you happy can have unexpected side effects. It can actually make your life worse.” Did this person ever have a lot of money, I wondered?

Sure, there were altruistic advantages to settling oneself into the benefits of, for example, a plentiful lottery win. I recalled a news article from many years ago which reported on an unemployed twenty-something who bought his step-dad a new glass eye when he won over eight hundred thousand dollars. Then, there was the anxious, lonely and shy person who vowed to donate a large chunk of her million plus windfall to a psychological institute that specialised in research regarding confidence building and training in effective public speaking. I recalled, although I can’t remember which, that one of the winners also splashed out on a first class around-the-world air ticket and copious amounts of plastic surgery. Money did bring them happiness. For how long? I assumed for as long as the money lasted and was spent in a way that brought the individual their understanding of happiness. Was it more a case of holding an understanding or meaning of happiness and its connection to money regardless of the amount in possession at any given time of life?

Who among us wouldn’t want to win the lottery? Personally, I’d love to. In the meantime, my reflection upon my eavesdropping in the bank queue drew my thoughts to the “MyArtSelf blog” and the 100-art-dolls challenge 2008. Happiness and money? Of course…a talisman.

A talisman is an object that has been empowered to draw something to you. So I created a money-drawing taislman as my first contribution to the challenge. I decided that every piece that I create (call them sculptures, assemblages, art-dolls, what ever) for this project would be predominantly made from recycled materials in order to minimise the global environmental footprint and accommodate my appreciation of “the found object” as art.

I rescued a (much-mangled) plastic figure that was about to be thrown into the garbage by its previous owner (a friends child). I swathed the figure in strips of cloth, rather like an Egyptian Mummy. Throughout the bandaging, I inserted coins found relegated to the nether regions of a drawer that I seldom opened (mainly coins from coins from New Zealand and America). Two Australian coins were also wrapped up within this small sculpture.So there you have it: My first installment of the 2008 challenge, focusing upon themes of happiness, reflection, creativity and life. Oh yes, and attitude to money … the kind that provides positive outcomes…

(This post relates to Prosperity Talisman, Arrigo Dorissa art doll #1, January 2008)