"More than conversation at the interface, it is creative assemblages like these that explore and elaborate the particular dynamic capacities that digital media afford and the ways that through them humans and machines can perform interesting new effects (...) in uniquely particular ways." Lucy Suchman (2009). Human-machine reconfigurations: plans and situated actions.
"A growing body of evidence suggests that our perception of our surroundings depends more on bodily engagement than on cognitive modeling. (...) being in the world is necessary to making sense of the world. Perception begins in presence." Nicholas Carr (2025). Superbloom: how technologies of connection tear us apart. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) July 2026.
"Sitting down and composing a letter provided women and men with a rare opportunity to contemplate their lives and (...) shape their experiences and emotions into a coherent and meaningful narrative. (...) The delay between writing and reading cleared a space for introspection, for organizing one's thoughts without regard to society's demands for immediate reaction and response". Nicholas Carr (2025). Superbloom: how technologies of connection tear us apart. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) June 2026.
"When you try to understand something, it's often most effective to set aside your preconceptions and observe it quietly so that the object of your examination reveals what needs to be understood. (...) pure attention without judgment is not only the highest form of human intelligence, but also the expression of love." Haemin Sunim (2017). The things you can see only when you slow down. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) May 2026.
Gardening "brought me as much joy" as "places I've travelled to further in the world". It is "like an expansion of life rather than a retreat from it" Alice Vincent (2024). Why Women Grow. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) May 23, 2026.
The tapestry finished in May is the sequel to «Connected», "covering very different ground and ending up in unanticipated places", behind the mountain on the upper left side of last year's tapestry.
While reading the transformative book The Entanglement by Alva Noƫ, the weaving of this new tapestry gained a new direction, opening up new meanings along a line of questions that I had been avoiding. Perhaps the tapestries were not about nature, but more about finding myself within nature.
Photo of part of the tapestry «Interconnected» (102 x 82 cm) by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC), May 2026.
Labels:
embodied thinking,
Entanglement,
interconnections,
Nature,
roots,
tapestry,
trees,
water,
weaving
"(...) the notion that there are benefits to sitting on the edge between order and disorder, and hence having adaptative power, rings true in our everyday lives." Neil Johnson (2009). Simply Complexity. A clear guide to complexity theory. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) March 2026.
Labels:
books,
boundaries,
building infrastructure,
re-reading,
small forest,
soil,
top soil
"To erect the framework for flourishing, we need a reliable superstructure that provides for our basic needs, a bulwark against a precarious survival. What we don't need is a society that regularly gets upended by major systemwide shocks that jerk us in undesirable directions, ripping us out of the present to worry about our existential future (...) and democracies collapse." Brian Klaas (2025). Fluke: chance, chaos, and why everything we do matters. Photo of tapestry with map behind by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) February 2026.
"You mix your metaphors, and a seed becomes a lantern glowing, or a flashlight, or a firefly hatching". Rebecca Solnit (2025). No Straight Road Takes You There. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December 2025.
After seeing the video of Mark Rothko murals at Tate Modern, one of the artists mentioned in the book A Therapeutic Journey by Alain de Botton, sharing photo with a reminder of the other side of nothingness. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) December, 2025.
Sustainability in practice. Bouquet with plants grown locally. No artificial fertilizers or pesticides. Collected manually, near creative assembling point. Made with love and care. Hand delivered by the creator in nearby location, reached in less than 30 minutes by foot. Including complimentary smile and a good day hug. To dispose end of life bouquet, compost, cut in small pieces to use as mulch or use the dry plants as materials to do tapestries ;)
Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) November, 2025.
Sim, existem muitos quilĆ³metros de alternativas para colocar paineis solares no nosso pais. Para alĆ©m dos locais em ambiente construĆdo, grandes extensƵes foram identificadas pelo Centro de InvestigaĆ§Ć£o Comum Europeu (JRC), em Portugal e nos restantes estados-membros da UE, com imenso potencial: autoestradas e caminhos de ferro.
JRC (2024). European transport infrastructure as a solar photovoltaic energy hub. Utilizando dados geoespaciais para quantificar o potencial de implantaĆ§Ć£o em larga escala de painĆ©is solares ao longo das principais estradas e ferrovias da Europa, tendo em conta “geografia, restriƧƵes ambientais, limitaƧƵes de uso da terra e parĆ¢metros tĆ©cnico econĆ³micos”, resultados revelaram potencial de capacidade de “energia fotovoltaica de 403 GWp na UniĆ£o Europeia (UE)”, ou seja, o “equivalente a 55 % do objetivo de capacidade solar fotovoltaica total da UE fixada para 2030.” Considerando apenas as linhas ferroviĆ”rias, “a produĆ§Ć£o anual total de eletricidade fotovoltaica teria potencial para atingir 250 % do atual consumo anual de eletricidade da rede ferroviĆ”ria da UE.“
JRC (2024). Communication on the potential of applied PV in the European Union: Rooftops, reservoirs, roads (R3). Neste artigo, avaliaram tambĆ©m o potencial de instalaĆ§Ć£o de painĆ©is em autoestradas e linhas fĆ©rreas, constatando que a “capacidade instalada total de energia fotovoltaica poderia exceder 1 TWp, o que Ć© muito superior Ć capacidade total de energia fotovoltaica para 2030 da EstratĆ©gia de Energia Solar da UE (720 GWp) e seria uma contribuiĆ§Ć£o significativa para os vĆ”rios TW necessĆ”rios para a transiĆ§Ć£o global atingir o zero lĆquido, atĆ© 2050” PodiĆ”mos tambĆ©m pensar na utilizaĆ§Ć£o das faixas de gestĆ£o de combustĆveis para instalaĆ§Ć£o dos parques solares.Todas elas, formas existentes de baixar e evitar custos ambientais, como alternativas Ć ocupaĆ§Ć£o e destruiĆ§Ć£o de paisagens protegidas, florestas, montados, corredores ecolĆ³gicos ou solos agrĆcolas, incuĆndo o abate de todo o tipo de povoamentos florestais que tanto necessitamos neste momento.
"The paradise lies in the fluid possibilities of emergent alliances, associations, and organizations, and the ways they network through the impacted area to circulate what's needed. And in both the deep kindness motivating that action and the agency and alliance that emerge." Rebecca Solnit (2025). No Straight Road Takes You There. Photo by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC) November, 2025.
“The organized expression of collective interests is what gives shape and meaning to democracy, and requires trust, continuity, structure – and the willingness of people to join things”. Yuan Yang, 2024. Why We Should Join Things. In Democracy: Eleven Writers and Leaders on what it is – and why it matters. Image of tapestry «Democracy vessel» (83 x 80 cm). November 2025. Below, fresh flowers of agapanthus collected in July. Dry flowers. Multipurpose tools used during work.
All photos by Monica Pinheiro CC BY-NC-SA (CC).
“We need
to step outside the machine in order to comprehend how it is working and where
it is failing us”. Step into Nature, “a generous teacher, if we can only
manage to slow down and listen to what it is saying”. Nature is the system
of systems, running with stunning complexity, based in feedback loops “allowing
natural ecosystems to continue in equilibrium for eons” even if some “have
failed to notice, let alone appreciate”, others haven't.
“Democracy, too, is a delicate ecosystem – of checks and balances, rights and needs, power and accountability, It requires a healthy, functioning environment and a diverse community of interacting organisms”. It also requires feedback loops. “Our voices matter. Stories bring us together. Silences keep us apart” and erase democracy, in our country and in other's countries. Democracy is interconnected. Worldwide.
