Canopic Gyres

I made this talisman for health and longevity as a 40th birthday present to myself and for others of my generation.  I cut out many tiny images of a woman from an exercise manual and arranged them in a pile to be photographed.  Each of the four images was rotated counterclockwise 90 degrees, as was the text that references Egyptian gods and goddesses, the cardinal directions, various viscera of the body preserved in four canopic jars and the protectors of these embalmed organs.  I thought of this circulating work as a kind of synthesis of a Plains Indian medicine wheel and a Tibetan prayer wheel, a wheel within a wheel that would protect and generate positive energy.  Canopic Gyres is a dynamic work that is held in various levels of suspension much like planets with their moons rotating around the sun.  I wanted the energy of these gyres to produce enough momentum to keep our lives going in a balanced and continuous motion, if not forever, then for a very long time.