Dena Hawes

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Banff Centre for the Arts, Banff, Alberta, Canada

the turtle victors over chaos by virtue of standing still


The turtle on her back becomes the metaphor for a position of extreme vulnerability and openness. I am suggesting that placing myself in such a position allows me to be

Vulnerable
to
drop all armor, all guard, and all agenda
to
dissolve barriers between people
to
open up a channel for deep communication that is potentially altering

the earth itself rests on the back of the turtle, she being the only one who can keep it stable

In this project I spin for a determined amount of time on a metaphoric compass that's laid out on the floor. By spinning on a measure of time and location I am citing geography as much more than a scientific location. As a woman spinning in a turtle shell on a floor sized compass is suggestive of human geography, or that of embodied culture and identity.

Time + Location = Loss of Bearings

This project was also intended to raise issue with our contemporary notion of 'home'. Here, the turtle is a woman who has no roots and wears her home, questioning what our contemporary definition of what 'home' really is—'home' as displacement, loss of bearing. 'Home' as a transitional space.

Home = Transition

it's turtles all the way down