Creativity, well-being and mindfulness can make dreams come true!

We asked you to have fun and help us to think about what other materials we could use for mandalas by making your own, sharing with us the things that matter to you.

Browse the other mandala galleries via the buttons below.
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Imagination Our Nation Mandala, Hardie Park

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This Mandala was created by volunteers from Friends of Hardie Park and artists Margaret Hall and Jackie Burns. It was made from recycled materials, including crisp packets and sweet wrappers.

Ali Pretty, Kinetika’s Artistic Director said about the day:
“I’m truly amazed by what you can do with a few crisp packets. Not only did they make striking designs in the spokes of recycled bikes but apparently transform into great heat blankets. Congrats to Margaret Hall and Jackie Burns for our lovely mandala No.5!”

Jackie Burns introduces the ‘Imagination Our Nation’ Mandala made for T100 Calling at Hardie Park.

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Photos by Mike Johnston

Aerial photography thanks to Unique Imaging

Spring Clean Mandala from India

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A colourful mandala made out of crisp packets, received from our friends in Kolkata India: Sabrim Khatoon, Shivam Jha, Riya Roy, Neha Jha with Korak Ghosh

Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Jacci Todd

A ‘stay at home’ British mandala for unprecedented times. I like to be creative with a cup of something close at hand.

Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Margaret Hall

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This mandala is made from items I use for sewing. I recently joined a sewing group which was formed to help supply much needed scrubs and related materials to workers in the NHS and other health care workers.

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It is reassuring to see how people pull together when the need arises. The members of the group did not previously know each other but everyone has been very supportive and encouraging. So many have freely given of their time and various skills to support the cause. Many of them have said how they have found a sense of purpose and fulfilment through taking part so the benefit has been a two-way thing.

This mandala is linked to the previous one in that it was made for the sewing group. Everyone in the group was invited to contribute a small square which will be part of a wall hanging to celebrate the efforts of the group. I feel privileged to have been part of such a fantastic initiative and I’m looking forward to seeing the hanging when it is finished.

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Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Sally Chinea

As lockdown began, our amazing NHS were suffering with a lack of PPE. A community call was put out for anyone that could sew to help, with a background in textiles. I wanted to do my bit and joined the campaign and I started creating wash bags, hats, ear savers.

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I was then was approached to make official scrubs, many shades of blues for the different requests, I created my own production line circle, here all parts are cut out and prepared, paused ready for sewing. Social media circle was at its best as community hubs came together, some donated fabrics, others key workers picked up and delivered competed items, and images and messages shared, all with no contact! For the love of the NHS.

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Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Emily Moon

I made this mandala yesterday using my most used craft supplies. It’s symmetrical shape-wise but not colour-wise, as I created it as a colour wheel inspired by the rainbows for the NHS

Mandalas by Sabrim Khatoon, Shivam Jha, Riya Roy, Neha Jha with Korak Ghosh

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Creativity with what you have – made by children in a home in Dum Dum North Kolkata, West Bengal made from flower petals that would be in the house for offering to the household deity Krishna, for a daily ritual called ‘puja’

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Our Bengali participants have also created a solar system mandala made from dhal, isn’t it great?

Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Jacqueline Creasey

I chose to create this mandala to provide a focus, calmness and distraction during lockdown, to contribute to a creative need and add additional meaning to the isolation period.

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I chose these materials due to a desire to document the local environment during lockdown in a sensory way, which would support the theme of a mandala. Flowers were readily available, added joy, had beauty, colour, smell and enabled touch.

During the process I was thinking about what was in profusion and available to form a Mandala. Then

felt the need to document the variety of blooms available in the local environment, during a specific period in May, in a mindful way. Their beauty, shape, form, colour, scent and the joy that they can bring to life during an overwhelmingly sad time.
Enforced ‘quietness’, has enabled time for reflection on the important aspects of life, to lead to a more meaningful survival.

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Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Helen Dodge

Staff at a residential care home for adults with profound and multiple learning disabilities have collected shells and stones for use during sensory sessions. Now from these, we have made a May Mandala to symbolise our resilience and positive outlook through these challenging times.

Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Robert Stevenson

Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Michaela Freeman

Made out of my daughter’s 36 short and long sleeved t-shirts. In this week’s The Great Sewing Bee, the programme’s judge Patrick Grant said that we have enough clothes on the planet right now to “clothe the next 6 generations.” 6 Generations! We don’t really need to buy new ones. If we wear what we have, we could prevent a lot of pollution and waste.

Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Jane Barry

My May Mandala in textile art using recycled fabrics and developed just this week through your project. It is in the form of a flag as I connect that with Kinetika!
It is due to hang in the window of the Well House Gallery in Horndon if anyone would like a closer look!

Mandalas by Sally Chinea and friends

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‘See you on the other side’ together whilst apart; an online mandala.
When lockdown began, a group of us started a WhatsApp group called “See you on the other side”; we couldn’t meet, but we could keep in touch. As the days have passed, we have kept each other going, made each other laugh and shared stuff. Thought it would be nice to do a ‘see you in the other side mandala’.

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I asked everyone one who wanted to take part to create a circle from objects from where they were and take a picture and send it to me. Nine people did and this is the result! As we begin to emerge from these unprecedented times, it seems poignant to reflect on our journey together, whilst apart … Stay safe all see you soon

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Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Hi Ching

-> Which Way -> uses the cyclical power of the mandala through visual images and music through a moment of time to ask ourselves which way we wish to proceed. To continue towards obliteration or to reverse the damage that we have and continue to cause in harming the very resources that sustain us.

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I examined walking as journeys to collect images of nature and human invention that make up the mix of our present world. These digital journeys in the internet gave me access to images I could then symbolise into little icons. I placed these icons in concentric circles representing the worlds in which they exist – such as the seas, skies, earth, light. These four elements were further distilled into diagonals emitted from cardinal points and girdling the world. In the centre of it all are humans.

The image is then slowly choked by pollution in a short video before reversing to its original. A siren sounds towards the apocalypse.

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Imagination Our Nation Mandala by Susie Alexander

“My mum is a constant source of inspiration and strength to me. She introduced me to Therese five years ago, just when we were starting T100, and instantly I knew that Therese could bring something very special to our communities. During lockdown, I was on my own in Hackney and my Mum in Nairn, we have spoken every day and this has given us precious time to renew and deepen our conversations in the context of a transitioning world. We both believe it can be for the best, and all these wonderful mandalas are a tribute to all of our creativity and the potential we have to make a difference.
Thank you all, the journey for 2020 has just begun!“
Ali Pretty.