Christine Bourdette's Cairns (2008) consists of a series of five stacked slate (or silver ledgestone)[1] forms near Portland Union Station at the north end of the Transit Mall in Portland's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood.

As I considered ways in which humans mark pathways, I thought of cairns, those man-made stacks of stones that mark hiking trails and which historically have served as landmarks for land and sea navigation, memorials, and commemorative markers.

Travelers on cross-country trails traditionally add stones to cairns as they pass, resulting in animated and precarious stacks of rocks and pebbles.

This evidence of human comings and goings, these reminders that others have followed the same path signify safety and reassurance out in the wilderness.

These stand-alone works speak to the step-by-step marking of time, and incorporate varying degrees of elegance and playfulness.