In 2010 Japanese garden designer Itaru Sasaki set up an old telephone booth in his garden so that he could speak to a loved cousin who had died of cancer by “talking” to him on a phone that is not connected to any “earthly system”. The idea of wind phones as a way to process grief spread around the world, and now there’s one on Gabriola, incorporated into a resting bench created by woodworker Jamie Doig and installed by GaLTT in the 707.
The goal of Sasaki’s wind phone was to help people reflect on loss and find comfort and healing. “Because my thoughts couldn’t be relayed over a regular phone line, I wanted them to be carried on the wind.” Although the original wind phone was created in reaction to an individual loss, after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011 the wind phone was made publicly accessible so that grieving survivors could call family and friends who died in the disaster.
Since the original phone was installed tens of thousands of people have visited it, and hundreds of other wind phones have been built around the world, including several in Canada.
Our wind phone lives in a box under a beautifully crafted resting bench made by Jamie Doig, who has donated many benches to our community, including the one that this bench will replace (which will be moved to a new location). A small signboard beside the bench explains the context and purpose of the wind phone.
We hope that our wind phone can help those who are grieving in a way to find peace. It is located on the Jeanette Trail (approximately 300m from the trailhead) where it sits under a large bigleaf maple tree, one of the most accessible trail locations on Gabriola. While the trail is relatively flat for most of the distance to the bench, the final 100m does rise up. There are stumps along the trail for people who have mobility issues to stop and have a rest.
