Christina Zardus
title. Art Installation that Migrates Beyond the School Walls
statement.
Renaissance Public School Academy students collaboratively created a thousand origami cranes to donate as a symbol of peace and hope.
According to the ancient Japanese legend, anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes will be granted a wish. Students at Renaissance were told the story of Sadako, a Japanese girl who died of leukemia ten years after the atomic bomb. The story goes that Sadako, believing the Japanese legend, kept folding cranes until she passed away in 1995. There is a memorial statue of Sadako in Hiroshima, and to this day, people all over the world send origami cranes as an action for world peace.
In response to this story, the students at Renaissance decided once they had made their thousand cranes, to gift them to their local soup kitchen, a place in the community where people could enjoy their beauty and give hope.