Dana Henry Martin

Dana Henry Martin

  • Nowhere Going Nowhere

    Across the creek, cows have replaced horses. The windmill has given up on the idea of spinning. Rust keeps it… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    1–2 minutes

  • The Architecture of Mental Illness

    Mental illness has an architecture. That’s part of the story of asylums and treatment in this country. Central State Griffin… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    1–2 minutes

  • Barnacled

    I dreamed barnacles were responsible for creating and destroying universes. Each universe was cast out into spacetime like one of… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    1–2 minutes

  • White Salamanders

    We invented numbers, then we assigned meaning to them, both everyday meanings and special meanings when they show up in… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    2–3 minutes

  • Dream Language

    Dream language: Two who mirror can mirror each other, but when one moves behind the back of the other, the… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    1–2 minutes

  • Coerced Treatment

    Matthew Yglesias today, on the heels of the July 24 executive order and its implementation in states like Utah: …… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    1–2 minutes

  • Apathy

    Last year, I was talking to someone who told me one of their co-workers sexually assaulted their friend. I asked… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    1–2 minutes

  • Death Is Not a Jinn

    I dreamed the poetry community was a psychosis-inducing haunted mansion that all the poets had to live in together. My… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    1–2 minutes

  • The Order

    I want to talk about the concentration camp being built in Utah, where I live, that will warehouse people who… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    2–3 minutes

  • Whole in Your Wholeness

    Sometimes, you travel somewhere and leave something behind: the body of your pain, which is taken into so many mouths… Read more.

    Dana Henry Martin
    1–2 minutes

PROCESS

  • Map and Research: Investigate the historical, geological, and ecological context of each collection site or reverse the direction, mapping sites based on ancestral and historical narratives.
  • Forage: Gather natural materials ethically, respectfully, and with permission.
  • Transform: Process foraged materials into custom mediums and physical resources for art-making.
  • Weave: Track the stories held within the land, braiding personal, ancestral, and ecological histories.
  • Create: Generate studies and finished artwork informed by the sites and physically composed of the materials collected.

  • Limits: Not all sites will be safe or accessible, which means some spaces cannot be entered, and some stories will remain incomplete. An empty container can signify these omissions.

purpose

ethics

Responsible Exploration: Committing to mindful presence, permission-based foraging, and minimal-impact exploration on every site.

Meaning

Embodied Storytelling: Engaging in sensory, place-based creation that connects the maker and viewer to the specific location and to the physical earth.

Reclamation: Unearthing and honoring lost, fractured, or overlooked histories embedded in the landscape.

Material Transformation: Celebrating the alchemy of turning raw, gathered earth into tangible, expressive art.

community

Public Education: Sharing the ecological and historical narratives of the sites to foster a deeper collective awareness.

Active Participation: Creating opportunities for community participation, engagement, and shared connection through the work.