prosperity hens

*LIMITED QUANTITIES 

prosperity hens for centuries have popped up in different regions of India, but are said to originate in northern India where owning a flock of hens could literally mean survival for some. prosperity hens symbolized this wealth, good fortune and abundance. they are traditionally made and sold by women in cooperatives from vibrant scrap fabrics often from saris, beads and bells. they are also often linked to the goddess of prosperity Lakshmi.

i found the idea of them beautiful. and the biggest take away for me, was just the hope they inspire. and the physical act of creating your own abundance with action and faith.

for me it paralleled the sentiment of the enterprising black women of the american south during the late 1800s into the early 1900s, where formerly enslaved women sold fried chicken to migrant workers and families headed to new beginnings and were able to gain their own financial freedom, running businesses and becoming homeowners. 

***please note there are still cooperatives of Indian women making prosperity hens, that you can support. when I first learned of these hens 2 years ago I sat and cut many-a-chicken-body so that I could make flocks for myself and family, after I gifted my strands I still had a bag full of bodies…I just came back across them and decided to finish constructing all that were left.

10% of sales will be going to drawchange an organization that provides education and art therapy to unhoused, refugee and asylum-seeking children.

*each chicken is made of various scrap fabrics, leftover from projects that i've created throughout the years of my own entrepreneurial pursuits and the stuffing is made from scraps that were too small to become bodies. 

in addition to beads and bells i've also added cowrie shells to each chicken as they were not only symbols of wealth and prosperity but were also used as actual currency. 

strung on twine

each full strand is comprised of 16 hens. approx. 38" 

each single hen strand approx. 8'