Prairie Healing Scrolls

Prairie Healing Scrolls contain imagery of prairie grasses and plants along with imagery meant to evoke the wire fence terminal that surrounds the remnants. The dimensions of the scrolls are based on the size of my body; each individual scroll measures seventeen inches wide (the width of my shoulders), by sixty inches long (my height.) Prairie Healing Scrolls is related to healing scrolls as a tradition, which were historically made the height of a person who needed healing and contained text and image meant to purge illness.Using the size of my own body as the size of the Prairie Healing Scrolls acts as a way to explore the possibility of healing human relationships with the land.

Prior to hanging, the scrolls have been folded in a triangle pattern to create creases that mimic the panes of plexiglass of the Des Moines Botanical Garden. When the Prairie Healing Scrolls are not being displayed they can be refolded following the triangular pattern. When fully refolded, each scroll forms a five by five inch square that is housed in a box. The reduction in scale of the scroll references the reduction in scale of the prairie itself and the box serves as a protective container, much like the wire fences around the remnants.

letterpress printing on Kitakata with brass hardware
60 x 17 inches, each scroll, open
5 x 5 inches, each scroll, folded
5 x 9 feet, installed

2020