SERIES: Portals
About This Series
Using conventions common to a witches’ magic circle, Portal (2) is a gateway to the paternal spirits of my family in Utah. Strategically aligned with the four cardinal directions, this ritualistic pyramid harnesses both masculine and feminine power, concentrating their energy at the zenith where the four corner meet.
The evoking spiral in Portal (2) was created using photographs of men on my paternal family from the 1860s through today, while the lyrics were sourced from Echo Canyon, an American Civil War-era song that romanticized the back-breaking work that many young Mormon boys endured while working on the transcontinental railroad. While Portal (2) is fundamentally a vehicle for ancestral worship, it posits the conflicting nature of exalting familial men who were imperfect at best and down right repugnant at worst. Portal (2) is an opportunity to learn from the mistakes and blunders of my ancestors, while cumulatively building on their core strengths and values.