The Anishinaabeg (Ojibwe people) tell the story of how a turtle ascended from the waters with a clump of mud on its back to create a safe new home for the drowning creatures after a great flood. What resulted is Turtle Island, now known as North America.

The turtle carries an immense burden, supporting places of inspiring beauty, but also of crushing despair. It shelters a wondrous array of creatures and plants on its back, along with great cities and towns. Yet its shell is scarred with highways roughly hewn across its back, clearcuts where majestic forests previously stood, searing unstoppable fires eager to ravage the remaining wilderness, trickles of water where rushing rivers once flowed, and deeply chiselled open pit mines.

The Anishinaabeg noted that the turtle's shell comprises 13 segments, one for each lunar month of the year; and around its perimeter are 28 segments, one for each day of the lunar month. This piece is composed in four sections of 28 measures each to acknowledge the four directions of Turtle Island and the teachings of the turtle.

Always walk with care on the back of the turtle.

—Beverley McKiver