DISLOCATION, HUMAN FISSURE
PROJECT STAGE Conceptual 2014
PROJECT ARCHITECT Charissa Snijders
LOCATION waiting
Soil that was once a hill or a place that was loved; maybe where picnics were had, or where life flourished - now unwanted and unknown - dislocated waste. This land art brings together dislocated waste from the surrounding region - unwanted refuse that carries the memories of the past and gives it new life.
The dislocated memories are merged to form a mound where people are encouraged to walk up blood-red sinuous paths to the top. Once there a large gaping hole is presented. Peering down one gazes into a cone-shaped funnel made of rusting barbed wire. burrowing deep into the earth. A human fissure revealing our dislocation from ourselves and from nature. White prayer flags tied to the wire gently flap in the breeze, with words written of grief, loss and forgiveness. There but unable to be read.
This land-art bares witness to our role as we blindly bulldoze without thought for the devastation left in our wake.
Yet there is hope within this dislocation - the loss of our connection. The form of the hole is a medicine wheel - an ancient way of creating sacred space to call forth the healing energies of nature. The sinuous paths leading to the medicine wheel are aligned to the directions and it is in this place that one can feel both the loss and if willing, a re-connection to all of life.
