There is no work of art that does not call on a people who do not yet exist.

Gilles Deleuze

I imagine a work that stands apart from the therapeutic milieu. It is not about fixing the broken.
It calls on a people who do not yet exist.

A Few Thoughts on This Work

This work is not an intervention or a structured community-building exercise. It does not aim at
predetermined outcomes. It gathers people around moments, events, and exchanges of gifts. The
gathering happens in response, not by design. We witness it. We take part in it. But we do not
generate or control it.

“A people who do not yet exist” does not signal lack. It signals becoming. With each moment, a new
people forms. This becoming is continuous, coalescing around specific events. These are embodied
becomings, not abstract ones.

This is not future work. It is already here. I see it in my own memories and in the movements of
others. And especially in the work of my good friend, Lynn Hoffman.

Lynn

Lynn works at the centre of gatherings. People form around her in response to gifts exchanged. She
touches hands, shoulders, eyes, and words. She is touched in return, in ways beyond imagination.
These are rhizome touches, multiplying touches. This is how I imagine her work.

Tom Andersen

I think of the late Tom Andersen. His language of reflection remains generous and alive. He talked
of response in bodies and breaths. He reversed the logic of control: the newborn teaches the mother
and father; the dog teaches the master. These are movements of gathering. A people forms around them.

My connection to Tom came through Lynn. In January 2006, both were at a gathering in Bellingham,
Washington. Tom honoured Lynn in a tender conversation. Those present felt the quiet love between
two leaders who respected each other deeply.

The Irish Fifth Province Group

I recall my introduction to the Irish Fifth Province group: Imelda McCarthy, Nollaig Byrne, and
Phillip Kearney. Their work, often in troubled places, created gatherings rooted in land, sea, music,
and people. My connection with them is interwoven with Lynn.

Lynn – she is part of the fabric of who we are. We always referred to her as our Fairy God-Mother.

Imelda McCarthy

Harry Goolishian and Harlene Anderson

If one replied exactly, fully, and adequately… would anything be occurring? Would an event happen?
To be worthy of the name, any reply must have the surprise of newness bursting in.

Derrida (2005), p. 77

Lynn has treasured relationships with Harry and Harlene. Their stance of not-knowing is a stance of
understanding. In abundance, we cannot know. Lynn walks conversations as an experimenter. She receives
images and sayings through underground channels and offers them tentatively yet boldly.

Lynn’s Story: The Fairy Godfathers

Lynn tells of attending a meeting of men who ran homes for troubled youth. A dog settled at her feet.
Asked for her impressions, she spoke of their tenderness. Then she said, “To me, you are just a bunch
of fairy Godfathers.” After a pause, they roared with laughter. The next day, the leader wore a tag
reading “Fairy Godfather.”

This is what happens when Lynn offers something from not-knowing. Beauty and delight emerge. These
are gifts carried along rhizome lines.

The Work That Becomes

Lynn gives the gift of becoming. Gatherings emerge around her. People become something together, a
people who did not yet exist. A work takes shape that transforms rooms and worlds, creating spaces
where souls gather.

Thanks Lynn.

References

• Derrida, J. (2005). Sovereignties in Question: The Poetics of Paul Celan. New York: Versa.
• Kinman, C. (2007). Confluences: Politics of the Gift in an Institutional World. Abbotsford, BC: C. Kinman & Associates Ltd.