Miles 78-90 | “Mouth” by Indigo Deany
Mouth
When I am with the river, I become a bit of everything that is around me, and it makes me feel bigger and smaller at the same time. It’s when I feel closest to death, in an alive way. I am so close to dissolving completely into everything else. When I breathe while my body is in the water— face up, towards trees and sky, ears rushing— my breath becomes a tiny thread; one eddy of wind could disconnect it entirely from my my body and everything inside me (bones, blood, heart, water) would be set free like a flood.
This portion of the river is based on the span from Picnic Rock to Laporte. Picnic Rock lays at the mouth of the canyon; when you’re there, you’re surrounded by sheer rock faces and burn area, but just around a bend are the rolling hogbacks that begin to flatten into plains. The focal point of my installation is a loose interpretation of Picnic Rock itself, but I also wanted to capture a feeling of threshold– just like the feeling of surprise and dazzle that I experience when moving from within the ribs of the canyon into the openness of the east.
I was raised in Fort Collins. I’ve since lived some different places and done many different things, but now, Fort Collins is home again. I work, garden, make things, and sit in the river.
