When the pandemic hit, we had to close our space. It was for us, as for many people, a time of reflection. Before reopening we decided we wanted to make some big changes.
We’d bought the space in 2017, when it was called Jellyfish Artshub. We were full of enthusiasm to recreate the buzz and community atmosphere we’d seen in the photos of the previous owner’s events. We met with Nathilde several times and took copious notes.
But it’s hard to step into someone else’s shoes. It’s even harder to step into someone else’s vision! Nathilde had created Jellyfish out of her particular passions and brought people together in her way. We’d run events just like hers, but very few people would come. Because we weren’t expressing our own passion, we didn’t have the stamina to get through these disappointments. We were putting a lot of energy in, but getting very little out. We realised that if we were going to make the gallery work we needed to find our way of doing it.
So when the pandemic shut us down, the chance to re-evaluate things was a relief. How could we make this work better?
It’s a scary thing to really step out with the things you are passionate about. What if nobody wants that?
At this time Sundara was working on a series of pictures involving women or girls taking refuge with various wild creatures. One of them featured a girl and a dragon: she called it The Dragon Sanctuary.
One day we realised that this could be the name, and the logo, of our space. A place to share our deepest passions, even if that involved facing our fears. The girl in the picture is really at peace there, nestled in the embrace of her dragon. In fact, she seems to suggest that dragons aren’t that scary. What if the thing we most fear is actually the source of our inner strength?
We soon found some other meanings for the name. There are some other sanctuaries locally, like the Mare and Foal Sanctuary, and the Horse and Pony Sanctuary. As a storyteller, I’ve often felt that I’m standing for the mythical beings that were once so present in our collective psyche, but which are now being forgotten. What about a Dragon Sanctuary then? A place in which the mythical beings can be nurtured in our collective imagination again. I’m sure we need their help now more than ever.
There’s another meaning to this name that we both enjoy, but it’s very personal to us and our marriage, so I won’t share it here. But as we sat with this new name, each new meaning just helped us come to a place of clarity about it. “The Dragon Sanctuary” it is then!
We reopened when the pandemic had subsided and began offering only our singing and storytelling events. We now run over forty such events a year and our range of offerings has grown considerably. The space now feels like it’s fully ours, expressing our passions and sharing our deepest loves with the people who walk through the door. That’s when the magic can really happen!