M.I.A + Scarlet Monkeyflower Flower Essence
By Katrina Martinez
Spring 2024 Flower Essence Formula Design Class
Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, who goes by the stage name M.I.A, is a British born music artist, producer, film maker, and activist who spent the first 11 years of her life in war torn Sri Lanka before moving back to London as a refugee. Her father was a revolutionary political activist heavily involved with the rebel militant group known as the Tamil Tigers. She grew up in dangerous poverty-stricken conditions- having to constantly go into hiding and eventually losing contact with her father because of his involvement in the civil war. This created a strained relationship between them and a childhood for M.I.A. filled with violence, fear, courage, determination, poverty, racism, and feeling “othered.”
In the early 2000s M.I.A. popped up on the global music scene by way of the internet, with her smash hit “Galang.” This song blends dancehall, hip hop, world and electronic music, while the lyrics allude to urban street culture, police harassment, and unrealistic societal expectations. The music video, which was art directed by M.I.A. herself, shared images and art installations she created of militaristic graffiti, references to the Tamil Tigers, and London. Her debut onto the global music scene solidified her as one of the first and greatest pop stars of the digital age, listing “Galang” as one of the greatest songs of that year, the decade, and all time.
M.I.A. would continue releasing music and imagery loaded with political commentary and themes of war and conflict, immigration and displacement, oppression and resistance, multiculturalism, globalization and the digital age, freedom, rebellion, gender equality, and poverty and wealth. She would go on to be nominated for Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Brit Awards,and various prestigious awards all over the U.S. and Europe.
M.I.A is still actively releasing music and projects, including a book she is working on as well as recently releasing a new fashion line with clothing made from fabric of pure silver and precious metals, that is said to be anti-radiation and anti-EMF. This clothing line is meant to block 99.99% of WiFi and 5G waves from entering the body. She is a modern icon known for being controversial yet brilliant.
When thinking about who I would choose for my archetypal essay, M.I.A. was the only person that came to mind, as I’ve always been intrigued by her artistry and her devotion to her truth. I find her very admirable, bold, daring, and unique. I didn’t really know where to start with choosing which flower essence would match her persona as I find her to be extremely dynamic. I decided to pause and ask the flowers. “Which one of you are the archetypal flower essence for M.I.A.?” Immediately, Scarlet Monkeyflower stepped into my mind’s eye. Not being too familiar with Scarlet Monkeyflower, I excitedly looked into the FES Repertory for what Scarlet Monkeyflower could be used for. My jaw dropped at how absolutely on point it was for M.I.A. The positive qualities are listed as “direct and clear communication of deep feelings, especially anger or disappointment, integration of the emotional “shadow,” while the patterns of imbalance are listed as “fear or repression of intense feelings; inability to act upon issues of anger and powerlessness; need to be seen as “nice” rather than “real.”” I knew I had to look no further for M.I.A.’s archetypal flower essence. If anyone wanted to transform their anger and traumas through facing them and processing them, or be as bold to stand in their truth like M.I.A., Scarlet Monkeyflower flower essence would be the perfect remedy.
In an interview with Oxford Union, M.I.A. was asked about how her background as a refugee has been channeled into her music and activism. She answered, “I felt as an artist, it was one thing that kind of needed to be talked about because it was a taboo and it also affected the way I grew up because people made me feel really embarrassed about it when I first came, so it was just the process of me cleaning out, you know, I don’t know what it’s called, working through my demons or whatever the thing is, you know. And it was just an airing out process of saying, “ok,” [it’s actually like Eminem], you know you just kind of like call yourself out and no one can call you out, so that’s kind of what I did.”
reference: 3:40- 4:30min
The FES Repertory definition of Scarlet Monkeyflower mentions that this flower essence gives the soul courage to actively acknowledge and confront feelings of anger and other intense feelings, allowing the soul to find healthy ways to integrate these “demonic forces” lurking inside, rather than to repress it. M.I.A. has done just that with her extremely difficult childhood experience. She has used it to create music and art that inspires others as well as gives others the courage to speak about their truth and experience. She does not care to appear “nice,” or “tame,” but to be fully expressive, no matter who it makes uncomfortable.
One of M.I.A.’s most famous songs is called Bad Girls, where she sings the lyrics, “Live fast, die young bad girls do it well,” showing that she is proud of her rebellious spirit. This can be considered her “dark,
shadow side” by some. In another song called Borders, she sings, “Borders, what’s up with that? Politics, what’s up with that? Police shots, what’s up with that?” expressing emotional honesty as well clear and direct communication of her deep feelings around controversial topics. In her song, The Message, she sings, “Headbone connects to the headphones, headphones connect to the iPhone, iPhone connected to the internet, connected to the google, connected to the government.” I believe these lyrics express her anger and sense of powerlessness she feels towards the connection between the government and big tech. In her song 20 Dollar, she sings, “ War, war, war who made me like this? Was it me and God in co-production? My devil's on speed dial every time I take the wrong direction.” These lyrics show how she still battles with her inner demons and the powerlessness she feels being born into war and violence.
If you look at Scarlet Monkeyflower, it has vibrant red-orange to scarlet petals, “radiating unusual intensity and strength,” much like M.I.A. The mouth of the flower appears wide open, as if it is shouting. This resembles the messages of M.I.A.’s music- loud, unapologetic, and raw. If you look at M.I.A.’s discography, all of her albums have this bright scarlet color in it. The scarlet color looks like the thread that connects them altogether.
If there was any flower essence that could be taken to tap into the persona of M.I.A., Scarlet Monkeyflower would undoubtedly be it. M.I.A. grew up in extremely tough conditions having experienced war, violence, death, and conflict face to face from a very young age. Moving to London as a refugee she then faced racism and the refugee experience of feeling out of place and othered. She was able to transform all of these intense emotions and experiences into art and music, writing her name in the history books as one of the greatest artists of the digital age. If you listen to M.I.A.’s music and follow her artistry, you can see how she directly and clearly communicates her deep feelings, alchemizing her anger and sense of powerlessness into timeless art and facing her demons head on.
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Bibliography
Genius. (n.d.). MIA. Genius. Retrieved July 2024, from https://genius.com/artists/Mia
Kaminski, P., & Katz, R. (2019). Flower Essence Repertory: A Comprehensive Guide to the Flower Essences Researched by Dr. Edward Bach and by the Flower Essence Society. Earth-Spirit, Inc.
Katz, R. (n.d.). Mimulus guttatus. Flower Essence Society.
https://www.flowersociety.org/mimulus-guttatus.htm
Ohmni. (n.d.). Information. Ohmni. Retrieved July 2024, from https://ohmni.com/information
OxfordUnion. (2017, May 10). M.I.A | Full Q&A | Oxford Union [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZHxzKwwgaY
Time. (2009, April 17). The 100 most influential people in the world: The 2009 TIME 100. Time. https://web.archive.org/web/20090503142329/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/articl e/0,28804,1894410_1893836_1894427,00.html
