the primordial womb
Enwomb gallery installation
October 2019
Assembled entirely from scratch in Harwood’s main gallery space in a week’s time with the essential help of two dedicated and talented assistants, Ayeen Telopa and Mitchell Olsen, and many other kind volunteers, this installation was formed with Coyote Willow and Salt Cedar reeds, Basalt stones, and red earth, and was then deconstructed after the 20 day exhibition
The sculpture depicts my concept of the Primordial Womb, a reference to the cosmic egg, emerging from the smoldering earth, to be read as either an original birth or as a rebirth, or both, symbolizing a coming from and returning to the sacred feminine
The installation also had a participatory component, in which the viewer was invited to enter inside, encouraged to choose a pinch of something from an alter of elements gathered from around New Mexico (vegetation, flowers, soil and stones) which spoke to them, place that material in a large bowl of rainwater atop the altar, and imbue it with a blessing, thought, prayer, dream, vision, hope, feeling, or idea. At the end of the exhibition, the bowl full of three weeks’ of visitor’s intentions was emptied into the Rio Grande
Photographed by Cameron Krow, 35mm film