"The same themes drive both bodies of work, as her public art connects the threads from outside to inside the web of her creativity. The connective tissue in all Bornstein's public works, as she chronicles the processes of change in place and tries to reconcile humanity and the rest of nature, are the 'hidden voices' she seeks to make heard. This impulse is perhaps best expressed in Neototems once its initially elusive meaning becomes clear. The whales symbolize an intelligence and visceral connection to their human viewers, above and below primal water and, in the legend, above and below primal ground. They evoke in turn the subterranean song, or subtexts, that underlie much of Bornstein's work - issues of abuse and violence against people, places, and creatures, the theme of home, or lack thereof, and the possibilities of healing."
Lucy Lippard, Sliding into Place, 1998