Zhiwa

Quietly.
That was how I experienced Bhutan.
The sound of prayer wheels turning.
The wind.
Chanting.
Leaves rustling in the wind.
The wind.
Wind chimes.
The wind.

When one sense was muted, the rest heightened.

Beautifully intricate architecture. Rich fantastical culture. Costumes and people decorated in every colour you could imagine stood against an auditory background of silence.

ZHIWA features a language of folds and pleats. The weaving and embroidery of Bhutanese tapestries find their way into the garments in quiet celebration of Bhutan's silence. Browns represent the vast Bhutanese expanse flooded in Autumn leaves. A gentle concert of colour blocks in ZHIWA mirrors Bhutan's subtlety of sound. Modest injections of bright accent colours recreate the erratic bursts of nature's colours that jump out against the stark granite landscape.
Finally intense red is used in reverence of the devotion and depth of the people and culture.

The silence in Bhutan makes me see more, it makes me feel more.
The silence was liberating, and I was liberated.