The turning of the year often brings moments for reflection, for pondering, and discussions over food and wine. We remember the year past, and dream for the year to come. We make wishes and plan.

I wanted to communicate my hopes for the year to come, and landed on a story I’m fond of, the tales of Orpheus in the Underworld. The important moments to capture are Orpheus bargains with Hades, god of dead, for his wife Eurydice’s soul, and Hades granting it on the condition that he can return to the surface without turning back to look at her.

While the Orpheus of myth fails this task, there is a sentiment in this I think is important in the heated and divisive social and political landscape we inhabit. I want us to remember what has happened, its impacts and how it has shaped us and continues to shape us, but to not dwell and ruminate on the past – to look back at our Eurydice to fulfil our own want of longing, rage, or other emotions. 

Instead, I want to harness those memories to work...