Song to the Siren

sedna — Sedna, Mixed Media Sculpture, 2.3″ x 9″, 2013

sshand2 — Sedna’s Hand, Plaster, Found Object, Foliage, Shells, 18″ x 24″, 2013

sshand1 — Sedna’s Hand, Plaster, Found Object, Foliage, Shells, 18″ x 24″, 2013

“Song to the Siren” is a multimedia exhibition that explores rejuvenation of waterways impacted by water shortages and aquatic pollution.

Industrialization and urbanization has resulted in an increasing demand for water and has had a profound effect on aquatic ecosystems and their dependent species. Oil spills, toxic and medical wastes and dumping of other harmful materials such as plastics are all major sources of pollution that are directly affecting aquatic organisms The premise of the exhibit is to call upon the Sirens to heal the patient, humankind, so that we may again embrace a delicate balance between human expansion and natural preservation. Through understanding the mistakes of the past we can fuel the desire to preserve the present and protect the future. We need to rethink our concept of ownership of water. We ourselves are made up of water, which carries information, as well as intention throughout the human body. Within us are all the particles that make up the smallest drop and the largest ocean.

I call upon the Sirens of the Great Lakes: Kitchi-gummi, Karegnondi, Ontario, Eirehonan, MichiGami and Nipissing and Sedna, Goddess of the Arctic Sea Life to heal humanity.

Sedna is the Inuit deity that created the Arctic’s sea creatures. She is the Dark Goddess, embodiment of the wild female potencies that are feared yet sorely needed by cultures in which the masculine perspective dominates. Dwelling on the edge of life and death in her home at the bottom of the sea, Sedna is both a source of fertile abundance and a mysterious prodigy. Shamans from the world above swim down to sing her songs and comb her long hair. If they win her favor, she gives them the magic necessary to heal their suffering patient.

According to Inuit mythology, Sedna’s father had come to take her home because her new husband was cruel to her. He took her into his boat and headed back but was pursued by the angry spouse.To protect himself, the father threw Sedna off the boat. She hung onto the edge, but he cut off each of her fingers. She sank to the bottom of the sea and her fingers became the sea creatures.

The sculptures I created of her focus on the concept of rejuvination. Upon her petrified body, new life appears : coral, sea flora, sea creatures make their home. The same is said of the hands. Out of old ship parts emerge her hands and from those, new life. The possibility of rejuvination from the damage of industrialization and its heavy burdon on the earth’s waterways is up to us.The question that I ask in Song to the Siren is, what role are we willing to play?