Lamentation Poem for the Crocodiles of Lago Enriquillo, 1997

14" x 11"

This carved wooden book inscribed with small sea shells and charcoal from the campfires of crocodile hunters is part of a larger installation that was shown at Altos de Chavon, Dominican Republic. Beginning each 'paragraph' is a segment of crocodile cranium bone, small sharp relics of a threatened species. The book is laid on a large mound of salt, along with a fragment of crocodile bone and a broken oar found at the site. The work was made as a result of a trip to the Dominican Republic/Haitian border to visit Lago Enriquillo, an inland saline habitat and natural breeding place for salt water crocodiles. But the lake is no longer protected, and a once-thriving reptile population has been killed off for eggs, skin, and meat." x 9"