When Burning Man asked, what is the philosophy of your piece? I said:
To think about death is to think about life.

My inspiration came from watching my dad take his last breath and my own suffering near death (which I was lucky enough to overcome). USA society doesn't give enough time or space for healing trauma and there is no depth in death rituals. We are essentially always fighting a system that would rather us work to death without the possibility of living more authentic lives.

This installation will create a colorful space to honor death as a transformation.
The vision started as a (rainbow) bridge to honor my dad, an engineer who worked on the new bay bridge. Its curving shape represents the Yin Yang, the Middle Path between an ever changing landscape, the transient space in a dance to find balance. We exist on a spectrum between dualities, life and death, light and dark, good and evil.

The Bridge is a reinterpretation of an ancient ritual, bridging the gap between life and death by "communication" through offering paper notes (on Chinese Joss papers provided by the project). Staying connected through ritual, we can better understand our past, present, and future.
At the center temple space, a message box will collect the notes. Participants are welcome to walk the (Middle Path) (between Heaven and Earth) to slide a note offering into the message box. The box will ultimately be burned into the afterlife. We honor death as a release into transformation, to the great unknown where anything and everything is possible.

Very grateful for burning man supporting this dream in part by an honoraria grant, but we still need community support to help fund the remaining budget of this large installation.

This project will exhibit the teamwork of skilled builders/artists/dreamers. I am so lucky and grateful for their enthusiasm to see this dream come to life.

Thank you for your generosity and support.