known. But it has never been an aimless meandering. Instead it has been a vivid
quest of spirituality through various means. As the French scholar of esoterism
Antoine Faivre (1989) writes alchemy is “both a way of life and an exercise of vi-
sion.” In its dynamic quest for transmutation of matter and spirit, alchemy has
through history been working with the actualization of the possible. The possible
in this case is not a linear extrapolation from the actuality of here and now.
During this second round, the garment models were made from various qualities
of linen, from thicker canvas to lighter toile. The garments were embroidered at
Merimetsa with various patterns invented by the clients, but this time no large
production was made, but only six prototypes that we photographed, worn by the
clients who produced them. The photographs were taken by the portrait photogra-
pher Diana Lui and later enlarged to almost life-size for an exhibition at a gallery
in Tallinn where the garments also were exhibited. A catalogue was produced con-
taining the patterns of the garments.
At the gallery, visitors were encouraged to try on the garments. Along the walls
Lui’s large-scale prints, six of the Merimetsa clients photographed looking intense-
ly into the camera, looked on the visitors who were trying on clothes. The last im-
age on the wall, in the same size as the photographs, was a sheet of black reflective
plexiglass in which the visitor was reflected in a very similar manner as the other
portrayed persons on the walls. Together the visitor and clients wore their gar-
ments, looking at each other in a process of mutual recognition.
Photo session at Merimetsa.