<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">Thank you Renata and Tim for your invitation to participate in </span><span style="font-family:Calibri;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">empyre- soft-skinned space.  It is indeed wonderful to collaborate with you particularly since empyre has been at the forefront of technology for over 2 decades and I launch my online Gallery, Lakeeren with <i>The Dawn of Aquarius: The New Beginning</i> as a digital art exhibition. With 2020 being a challenging year with Covid-19 Pandemic, the idea of the age of Aquarius or the astral shift of </span><span style="font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(51,51,51)">Jupiter and Saturn in the sign of Aquarius </span><span style="font-family:Calibri;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">for some that began a few years earlier, or for many commenced on December 21^st, 2020, gives us some respite and importantly hope from the extreme fascism, racism, sexism, and homophobia that we have been experiencing globally. Hence, t</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri">he concept of </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri">the <i>Dawn of Aquarius</i> even metaphorically is nothing short of a breath of fresh air </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">as it presents a moment of optimism, freedom, creativity, intuition, intelligence, and compassion, towards the planet, humanity, and sentient life. </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri">We should consider ourselves fortunate to have witnessed this unique moment as each cycle takes over 2160 years,</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> much like the time spans in the Mayan or the Indian calendars known as the Kal Yuga.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">In a similar spirit, </span><i><span style="font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(38,38,38)">The Dawn of Aquarius </span></i><span style="font-family:Calibri;color:rgb(38,38,38)">is a year-long online exhibition platform inviting artists to share their ideas of the new world order, by not only r</span><span style="font-family:Calibri">eturning the <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51)">power to the individual, but </span><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38);letter-spacing:-0.05pt">collectively </span><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51)">engaging</span><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38);letter-spacing:-0.05pt"> with community, creating communication networks in which the exhibition serves as a platform to bring these ideas to the fore through talks, discussions, and various events. Am excited about the upcoming conference planned on March 19^th with empyre, but I plan to continue inviting artist’s, scholars, and academics to host talks to unpack the various possibilities of what we can accomplish in our lifetime in the Aquarian Age, and can’t wait to hear from empyre’s contributors about their thoughts. I encourage participants to view the exhibition on <a href="http://www.lakeeren.com/" target="_blank">www.lakeeren.com</a> as artists like shamans have been visionaries, and it might be a good starting point to begin the conversation about the Age of Aquarius.  </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38);letter-spacing:-0.05pt"><br></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38);letter-spacing:-0.05pt">Look forward to hearing from you,</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38);letter-spacing:-0.05pt">Arshiya </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;text-align:justify;font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri"><span style="color:rgb(38,38,38);letter-spacing:-0.05pt"><br></span></span></p></div></div>