Photos: 100Stone Installation at Point Woronzof

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 50

Artist Sarah Davies walks among the figures for her 100Stone project on the beach at Point Woronzof after it was installed in Anchorage, AK on Saturday, Nov. 21, 2015.

Anchorage awoke to seven inches of new snow on Saturday and a stiff wind created near-whiteout conditions at the north curve of Point Woronzof Drive. But that didn't stop volunteers from arriving before dawn to set up a sprawling art installation titled "100Stone." By 9 a.m. more than three dozen people were busy with shovels and snowblowers clearing a path to the beach below the Point Woronzof Park parking lot, adjusting rebar stakes and setting up tripod hoists to lift dozens of human statues into position on the shore of Cook Inlet.

Conceived by Anchorage artist Sarah Davies, "100Stone" uses forms taken from body casts of people affected by mental illness over the past year. Davies, who has suffered from acute depression herself, said she hoped the installation would lead to a realization of how many people struggle with various forms of mental illness and perhaps provide a sense of release from the isolation that they feel.