Salt Spell

Installation, THIRD SHIFT 2020

Harbourfront Saint John, New Brunswick


Salt is an ancient mineral that over the course of millennia has been assigned many practical applications and symbolic meanings ranging from a mined resource, to a form of currency, and as an important element in ceremonies and superstitions across cultures.

Salt Spell comprised a durational performance and drawing installation made of salt situated at the edge of the Saint John Harbour that emulated a magic circle—an elaborately patterned design used to delineate a protected area in the practice of ritual magic. 

Salt’s material connection to landscape, labour, and safekeeping are pertinent to contemporary Saint John. As a coastal city with vital marine environments; a city underpinned by industry and trade; and as a centre where the environment, heritage and—in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and innumerable acts of injustice—citizens, deserve safeguarding, salt is emblematic of collective care and collective faith.

Using Format