SAVE THE LAST DANCE FOR ME
This stop on our tour (where you are standing currently in the gallery reading this, or through the digital ethers) we see that the elements and nutrients of a shredded, disposed-of salmon carcass disperse back into the waterways to continue nourishing yet smaller creatures, even after death. Further downstream, the vitalized water then finds its way via streams and rivers themselves, or through the precipitation and water cycle, to provide nutrients and support to the essential cedars used for so much. In turn, the cedar panel itself allows the carved salmon to emerge, creating a cyclical relationship within the piece, both physically as well as metaphorically.
This piece may serve as monument, a totem, if you will, to the salmon. Bounteous and tasty.
For this piece, one possible interpretation has the salmon’s depiction here in a reversal of the typical circling-bird-of-prey-up-overhead scenario. Salmon, playfully leading its chosen partner, eagle, in dance through the fluidity of each step in the life cycle. A partnership.
Western red cedar
Acrylic
24” W x 36”H x 2” D
© Kyran Yeomans