Permanent installation of Wheel for Toxic Man

Daniel Dancer Columbia Gorge, Hood River, Oregon, USA 2011

TYPE OF WOUNDED PLACE

• Animals + Birds + Insects
• Industry & Development
• Oceans + Lakes + Rivers
• Waste

TYPE OF STORY

• Global Earth Exchange

Columbia Gorge, Hood River, Oregon, USA

Dancer, Daniel

To honor and celebrate the persistent beauty of the Columbia River Gorge in spite of dams, deforestation, development, decimation of native species, upstream nuclear waste at Hanford, etc . . . I recreated with my partner, Mimi Riley, The Wheel For Toxic Man.This was first created over 20 years ago on a polluted beach in the Yucatan. It was then recreated for a traveling environmental art show and was set up in venues across the country for 5 years. The contents of the wheel have been stored away since then and I decided to reestablish the wheel in permanent residence at a little vantage point on my land in the hills above Mosier, Oregon with a territorial view of the region.

The wheel contains 4 colors of plastic garbage washed up on a beach in Mexico, coconuts, a circular piece of coral and a old rope, also found in Mexico and half of a cow skull. A Radical Joy prayer flag flies from at the foot of wheel. New contents from the Gorge have been added and will continue to be added as this sculpture gets slowly consumed and transformed in place, by time and the elements. The contents of the wheel represent our addictions . . . oil, vanity, entertainment, convenience . . . that are the driving force behind the consuming destruction of our biosphere. The Wheel For Toxic Man#3 is multi-faceted. It is an iconic symbol of “homo-toxicus” (mankind in its current manifestation), a prayer for the world put in to form and a celebration of one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Sushi, the resident cat, bears witness to the creation.