Contribution

This year, Mona’s adventure takes her to the vast, starry sky. Over the past three years, her little pink bunny has received countless warm hugs in Black Rock City; magic mushrooms have listened to whispered dreams; and her “Dice of Destiny” have joined people in laughing heartily at uncertainty amidst the sandstorms.

In a real world filled with the unknown and the unpredictable, adults seek and experience love, yet often lose the courage to love amidst the fog of reality. But for six-year-old Mona, love is not so complicated. Like many little girls, Mona has always cherished an innocent “wedding dream”—longing for the kind of fairytale wedding found in storybooks and hoping to walk hand-in-hand with her destined love. To Mona, love is like the little bunny she holds: a symbol of unwavering companionship, no matter how harsh the environment.

Mona Moon explores emotional softness within extreme environments. The art piece is inspired in part by the ancient Chinese romantic but tragic story of Chang’e and the Jade Bunny: Chang’e and her lover are separated when she is forced to drink an elixir of immortality and ascends to the moon where she is accompanied lover. Only once a year the two lovers are able to see each other. In Chinese culture, when two lovers or family members are far away from each other, they will often look at the moon together in longing, and hopeful emotional connectedness.
The purple Mona Bunny represents companionship, sensitivity, and the human need for warmth and connection during moments of longing.

To bring this innocent dream to life, the little bunny has soared into the starry expanse, settling quietly atop a giant crescent moon. Transformed into the desert’s gentlest guardian of love, it gazes up at the stars and out into the distance, awaiting that destined soulmate. It seeks to tell every soul encountered in the desert: love requires no weighing of pros and cons; love is simply about offering your purest heart, just as you would at the age of six.