Shelter at an angle, with The Hunt

Shelter is a room-sized, empty steel cage juxtaposed with its twin, which is pierced entirely with nails. Referencing African nail fetishes, Shelter is pierced with 1.2 million small, silver nails. Traditionally, fetishes gained power as people grew to believe in them.

Similar to the fetishes, Shelter appears menacing, but like the gothic church or rib cage it resembles, the work is intended as a powerful, protective space that visitors may physically enter. More than 300 people have participated in the assembly of this work. During each work session, participants considered how to build communities better equipped to deal with difficulties such as socio-economic disparity, devastating natural world events, and the challenge of building healthy emotional and physical shelters in a modern world.


Shelter is a traveling exhibition which can be installed in variably sized rooms. The artist is available for lectures, presentations, and short residencies.

"Outlaw's concepts and logistics come together in this communal process, which not only makes possible the stunningly labor intensive work, but imbues it with the resonance of multiple paradoxes". - Leslie Luebbers, Director, Art Museum of the University of Memphis and Editor, number: an independent journal of the arts

Interns Piercing Shelter

Volunteers, college interns, and studio managers, from the age of three into their eighties, donated their time and physical energy into the piercing of the 1.2 million nails on Shelter.


Outlaw maintains an active intern education program at her Nashville studio and continues her efforts to expand art advocacy and the inclusion of the public in the creation of her artwork.


Spring, 2008 - Shelter will be installed at Freed-Haremon University, Henderson, TN