nomadic potentials
2016
Human people often imagine trees to be immobile, sessile creatures; however trees migrate through seed dispersal. Many tree species across the world are moving north or scaling mountains due to climate change. Hardiness zones are used to help human people understand what plants grow best where–these zones are changing. Sugar maples are moving north 30 miles a year.
nomadic potentials is an installation asking the viewer to imagine the potentials of migratory movement in relationship to human people. 680 Philadelphia "native" tree seeds planted in 680 discarded coffee cups attached to 2720 wooden wheels. These seeds are prepared for a dispersal, as viewers are encouraged to take a cup home as well as a zine printed on elephant poop paper which includes tree growing instructions and speculative drawings.
Immediately confronted by the presence of "other", viewers are forced to enter the gallery treading carefully, negotiating the path created by the trees.
Inspired by a story, of a professor's husband who takes his New York City indoor plants on walks to get some sun (or to "eat"), and my own childhood growing up in a home filled with hundreds of house plants, Nomadic Potentials is a future wondering and and an acknowledgment of what has come before.
