"I've taken the concept of a 'Totem', which has been defined as 'a natural object or an animate being, as an animal or bird, assumed as the emblem of a clan, family or group' and applied it, instead, to a whole habitat, depicting some of the iconic animals that inhabit that environment. Since it is an emblem or symbol rather than a snapshot, I have put the animals in a formal and symbolic relationship to each other rather than a natural one, but not as restricted as the well- known concept of a 'totem pole' where the subjects are stacked one on top of the other."