The Portal

The Portal (2023) was an installation at Scarboro Bowl that created a threshold between the inhumane customs of daily life and the more magical, connected, and relaxed ways of being together at the festival. In its seventh year, Scarboro intentionally expanded well beyond the social networks of the organizers, so setting the tone for newcomers was important. The Portal experience invited festivalgoers to reflect on three questions as they moved through the series of dioramas and strange vignettes: 

• What do you need to release in order to be fully present to joy here?

• What gratitude fills your heart?

• What blessings do you bring to share with others here?

​Virtually all of the components of The Portal were composed of found or discarded objects. These came from two friends' emotionally-loaded cleanouts after life transitions, so The Portal also served as a transition place for them to let go of objects that carried heavy symbolic weight. ​