My first time. At 63 years old I feel like a virgin. How intriguing. Black Rock city opens its arms wide to the flat, alkaline desert expanse of the playa and the rugged black mountain range that provides a backdrop. The air literally hums with potential. . . and heat. . . and the momentum of 40,000 people on 30,000 bicycles. Like an Old Testament prophet it is time to go into the wilderness. I have to go out onto the playa. I cannot not go. Now.

I jump on my 10-speed and within minutes I am in a surrealist painting by Salvador Dali or Magritte. Time is melting and figures float above ground like a mirage in and around larger than life size art. Art is everywhere. I am being driven mad by the art (but like an hallucinogenic experience, I can’t find adequate words to describe it).

And then the atmosphere shifts – as if negatively charged ions have become positive. Billowing clouds of sand rise up above the mountains. I am hypnotized by them – standing in the middle of the playa straddling my bicycle. I think, “Oh – this must be a sandstorm. It’s so far away. How beautiful . . .” then I am breathing sand. My ears are filled with sand and my eyelids are clinched tight against the sand. I cannot see. I cannot move.

Dump the bike!

Hit the ground face down!!

Pull your shirt over your head!!

Every inch of my skin is being sandblasted. The wind howls in protest as the sun is eclipsed by the storm. The only thing I can do is breathe. . . so I breathe.

A disembodied male voice above me asks, “You okay?”

“I think so.”

He drops a T-shirt over my head and arms.

“Hope it helps.”

“Thanks.”

LET ME EXPLAIN . . .

All Our Relations began in that sandstorm. Practically naked, my body literally scoured, flat on my belly on the earth, I felt strangely at home in the universe. I was cared for by a stranger. In nature, I was a creature among creatures.

All our Relations is a prayer spoken by Native American peoples acknowledging the web of life that connects all beings on the earth. All Our Relations embodies the spirit of that prayer and is a prayer for peace, not simply to ensure the survival of the human species, but a prayer to honor the sacredness of all life. The theme for Burning Man 2008 is “American Dream.” I challenge all dreamers, all visionaries, all creative people to envision a world beyond national boundaries where we honor the earth as our home.

Because I am a mask artist, All Our Relations is an installation of masks. Standing like sentinels in a circle 10 feet across, five black cylinders rise 12 feet into the air. Standing guard, five creatures spiral around the columns representing five animal kingdoms: reptile, mammal, insect, bird and fish. Mythology around the world is rich with stories about all these animals, reflecting a belief in the reciprocal relationship between human beings and animals. In Australia, the lizard Tarrotarro divided people into male and female and taught them the arts. The Kwakiutl of British Columbia believe that when their ancestors took off their wolf masks, they became humans. In Africa Praying Mantis brings good luck. The hawk has the power of prophecy in Polynesian mythology and from Irish folklore, a Salmon of Knowledge, when caught and eaten, gives second sight. The animals I have chosen for this installation are from North America, Blue-Tailed Lizard, Gray Wolf, Praying Mantis, Red-Tail Hawk and Sockeye Salmon. And in the center, a mobile of the human family balances delicately, suspended in time: 5 mask faces represent the family intergenerationally and cross culturally: grandmother, mother, father, youth and child the outer faces look toward the world, eyes wide open, thoughtful. Inside each mask is the face of the dreamer, with eyes closed, in the shadow of the collective unconscious, archetypal. What dreams will come forth? What dreams will shape our future? Will our dreams create life or destroy life for “All Our Relations?”