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lore:
i’ve always wanted to build my own beautiful home. i’ve always wanted to build something that expressed my origins, my history, my daily life, my idiosyncrasies, my dreams, my spirituality, my politics, my values, my cultures–the beauty of my humanity. i wanted to build something that expressed how i am both shaped by and shape the social dynamics of my community. i wanted to build something that expressed my desires for connection; for kinship, friendship and camaraderie.
when i first started building bon bon spirale, in spring of 2023, i was hundreds of episodes deep into the show One Piece. the more i watched it, the more i realized that i wanted to become a pirate and build a ship of my own [for more lore, check out my essay: coming of age as a mermaid: death, grief, zombies, why i became a pirate, & seeing the ocean in everything]. i too wanted a ship that could become my home to navigate the seas with, that i could care for myself and my chosen family within, that could express my values, and that could root me in my core dream (to be quintessentially myself, to express the fullest force of myself before i die, and to be sovereign). as one character says in the show, raising your own pirate flag is a symbol of the belief that nothing is impossible. by raising the flag, you commit to fighting for the possibilities you believe in, just like pirates do.
pirates are also seen as rebellious characters in the world of One Piece, with a strong uranian and neptunian energy. the show focuses on characters most representative of following a dream that happens to be disruptive & subversive to the status quo, innovative and philosophically pushing boundaries, and rebellious against passively suicidal attitudes and politics. the main character's dream is to be the freest he can be, to adventure with his friends, and delight in existence. he always seems to be inherently sensitive to a (inner) child’s need to be delighted in, need for love, and need for magic.
i named my ship “bon bon spirale” because the name reminded me of desserts! the sweetness of “bon bon” is paired with my love of spirals and what they can symbolize—the spiralic nature of life, the Spiralisme genre practiced by Haitian author Frankétienne (a formative teacher in my life), spirals as sacred geometry, and so on. during the genesis of bon bon spirale, i was also spending a lot of time studying the history of confections & sweet treats (especially generationally passed down practices) and dessert-based leisure activities. i really admired the idea that there was a social role where one is solely tasked with bringing sweetness to others. from a young age, i’ve loved to study spiritual philosophies and practices from all over the planet so this sweet social role reminded me of monastic practices and rituals of bringing great joy and happiness to others.
being able to connect the spiritual and material by seeing this throughline between confectioners and monks, in hindsight, was a big aha moment in my creative practice. both represented a lifestyle that i felt, maybe subconsciously at first, drawn to. in the narrative world of bon bon spirale there are a lot of characters. in order to materialize an idea, i tend to need to write about it first as though i were (what i like to call) a ‘slice of life fantasy’ writer;
in my internal narrative, i often talk about a monastery of rose bearers, love dwellers, and practicers of paradise. the spiritual and material are linked through a lifestyle that includes daily ritual reconnections with the joys of being divinity incarnated [3. arianna felix]. rose bearers are characters that both literally and metaphorically bring roses to others. roses are representative of love, beauty, and pleasure.
“love dwellers” speaks to understanding the power of home and homemaking. they understand that we are each other’s shelter in this world of rain. the homes (habits, ideologies, and lifestyles) we make together protect and advocate for what is most important to us. for me, that’s my emotional, spiritual, mental and, material wellness. for me, that’s my sovereignty.
another character of my world is the “zombification resistance front.” as for practicers of paradise, my philosophy is that heaven is on earth, wherever you are in the present moment, right beneath your feet—paradise comes down to choice and paradise is ours to practice. the rose bearers, love dwellers, and practicers of paradise resist zombification and soul erosion by protecting the expression of the true self and supporting the true self’s needs.
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bon bon spirale is complex and morphing. i say that bon bon spirale moonlights as a creative studio because first and foremost it is my pirate ship. internally, it’s my home, my ship to sail the seas of Life with. i like to translate this into form as a creative studio. in the external world, i most often fall into the realm of arts, beauty, and culture no matter how multiplex and various my creative pursuits may be. with age, i learned i needed to have both a stable home base to root my ideas (bon bon spirale) and a lot of room for adventure and experimentation to explore the many ways my root can be expressed (the varied creative projects done for the studio). this studio is a rough translation of my experience being myself in this world and all that inspires me to create. i create because i love Life, i love the Earth, and i love being human–relentlessly!