Snake Path Outaouais, 1993

Victoria Island, Ottawa, Hull
Gallery 101/Axe Neo-Sept curator: Cindy Deachman
rammed earth, sod, crushed brick, rocks grass snake - 72 feet in length

Snake Path Outaouais was a meandering earth mound, a microcosm, a mapping of the Outaouais River as it traced the partial path of the decent of the waters to their meeting place in Ottawa with the Rideau and Gatineau Rivers. It was also a mythological serpent, a natural metaphor for regeneration, an astral guardian like the Hydra Constellation, or, a legendary and still often sighted water snake, perhaps full scale. It was also simply an macro model of a timid and misunderstood creature retreating into the underbrush to seek refuge from the unnatural and threatening environment of the urban milieu.