THE MANDALA PROJECT DESERT: Collateral Damage 2018 - A Collective Mediation on Humanity
in response to the staggering numbers worldwide of the lost and unidentified human beings, risking everything for a better life.
Location: Joshua Tree National Park, California US
This particular installation is created in response to the current political atmosphere in today’s world of spiritual intolerance and cultural divisiveness. There are hundreds of John and Jane Does - countless men, women and children - who are lying in unmarked graves, and likely hundreds more whose bodies are never recovered, as they attempt to cross the border into the USA. This tragic situation brought about by today’s lack of social responsibility, unity and humanity is brought to light in this solemn presentation addressing the plight of those thousands of immigrants crossing borders around the world, whose bodies and bones are discovered partially turned to dust along the border. The 60' circle, composed of white plaster cast body parts is reminiscent of the sun-bleached remains represent those faceless and unidentified who perished in their struggle to find a refuge for themselves and their families. Serving as a metaphor for these men, women and children that die, forgotten and left behind, the installation commemorates these courageous individuals risking everything, and losing their lives, now forgotten and lost forever, unknown, unclaimed and disintegrating in the desert. “I want to give them an identity, a name, a respect for their struggle and their quest for a better life and honor them for their lives that we will never know.”
