The Storied Maple
Soil Factory, 2024
March is the season for maple syrup production in Upstate New York. Across the lands of the Gayog̱hó:nǫ́ people and beyond, maple trees begin moving stores of starch through the tree's body, waking up and preparing energetically for spring, for leaves, for photosynthesis and for the energy production of another year. A culinary experience uniquely indigenous to this land, maple syrup is also a cultural experience deeply rooted in indigenous knowledge. The first sugar of spring, this sap is a lifeblood for not just the maples, but also for human and animal beings alike at the end of long and cold winters. Broken branches and tapped bark offer a sweet liquid to keep the maple’s kin alive in the hardest of months.
March is also the season for industrialized maple syrup production: a good, commodity, or resource in the settler state. Across the region, maple trees will be linked together in early March with miles of blue tubing, a kind of industrialized draining, which pulls the sweet sap from the tree to tanks where processes of reverse osmosis remove water leaving a concentrated syrup. Bottled in plastic and placed on shelving under fluorescent lives, the gift of the maple, or even who she is, is fully obfuscated during a pancake breakfast.
March is also the season for industrialized maple syrup production: a good, commodity, or resource in the settler state. Across the region, maple trees will be linked together in early March with miles of blue tubing, a kind of industrialized draining, which pulls the sweet sap from the tree to tanks where processes of reverse osmosis remove water leaving a concentrated syrup. Bottled in plastic and placed on shelving under fluorescent lives, the gift of the maple, or even who she is, is fully obfuscated during a pancake breakfast.
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a Ritual for
New Growth
Egleston Square Branch of the Boston Public Library, 2022
Starting at the new moon and ending at the full moon, ritual follows a trajectory from darkness to light, from questioning to realization, from searching to discovery. The project connects these powerful energies with trajectories of ecological and personal growth, engaging neighbors in a daily sprout- and spirit-watering ritual. Focused on spiritual and ecological nourishment for more-than-human communities, we sprout a pollinator garden together.
ritual reflectionBanners for Dakhota Homeland
(working title)
City of Bloomington Department of Creative Placemaking
Erin Genia and Sheila Novak
2023
project statement to come
Octoer update:
I had the honor of installing a new piece of public artwork, made in collaboration with Erin Genia on Dakota homeland st Mnísota Wakpá and the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Our fingertips and toes numbed in sub freezing temps with ripping winds on install day, but it was worth it! These banners honor the land, its history, and its people through the inclusion of native plants, pollinators, regalia and the morning star, offering ecological healing alongside cultural restoration.
This public art project is part of a new public garden design I have been collaborating with Landbridge Ecological, aune fernandez landscape architects to produce which will open spring 2024. This project is funded by the City of Bloomington’s Creative Placemaking program.
More Public Praxis Projects
abundance
among us
Mary Soo Hoo Park, ResLab, 2021
20'x9'x3, pine, steel, stain, paint
"abundance among us" openeds space for intergenerational gatherings in Boston's Chinatown. Co-designed with Chinatown resident, Cass, this functional artwork considers the needs of youth and families through a tiered table that scales down to a child-sized table. Children and elders all have a seat at the same table, illustrating the abundance in community and emphasizing how individuals contribute to community power, regardless of their age. As folks gather, a golden dragon spans the entire table, evoking the group's strength.
Drawing sessions at the table invited community members to illustrate their ideas of abundance while activating the artwork. When gathered together to share a meal, have a conversation, draw or play, the power of the community is galvinized.
Land Medicine
A site specific nutrient reclemation project by
Sheila Novak and Johannes Lehmann
2023
Land Medicine (Fischer Old-Growth Forest)
soil (leaf and root litter, decaying plant residues, producing root exudates, fauna (earthworms, spiders, nematodes, collembola etc.), microbes (bacteria, fungi, archaea), microbial and faunal necromass, microbial exudates and enzymes, sand-silt-clay, pebbles and rocks, water, air containing CO2, N2O, CH4), fine and coarse roots, leaves, one week of urine, water, gelatin, copper leaf, maple frame
Land Medicine (Rosen Brothers Scrapyard/Dump Superfund Site)
soil (leaf and root litter, decaying plant residues, producing root exudates, fauna (earthworms, spiders, nematodes, collembola etc.), microbes (bacteria, fungi, archaea), microbial and faunal necromass, microbial exudates and enzymes, sand-silt-clay, pebbles and rocks, water, air containing CO2, N2O, CH4), fine and coarse roots, leaves, soil contaminants (Trichloroethane, Dichloroethane, Dihydroacenaphthylene, butane, methylnaphthalene, Methylphenol, nitrophenol,Chloro-3-Methylphenol, 9H-Carbazole, 9H-Fluorene, Acenaphthylene, Acetone, Aluminum, Anthracene, Antimony, Aroclor, Arsenic, Barium, Benzene, Benzo-fluoranthene, Benzoic Acid, Benzo[A]Anthracene, Benzo[A]Pyrene, Beryllium, Bis(2-Ethylhexyl)phthalate, Butyl Benzyl Phthalate, Cadmium, Chromium, Chrysene, Cobalt, Copper, Cyanizde, Di-N-Octyl Phthalate, Dibenzo(A,H)Anthracene, Dibenzofuran, Dibutyl Phthalate, Dichloromethane, Dimethyl Phthalate, Ethylbenzene, Fluoranthene, Indeno(1,2,3-Cd)Pyrene, Lead, Manganese, Mercury, Methoxychlor, N,N-Diphenylnitrous Amide, Naphthalene, Nickel, P,P'-Dde, Phenanthrene, Phenol, Polychlorinated Biphenyls (Pcbs), Pyrene, Selenium, Silver, Tetrachloroethene, Thallium, Toluene, Trichloroethene, Vanadium, Xylene (Mixed Isomers), Zinc), one week of urine, water, gelatin, copper leaf, maple frame
Project Statement
Near Ithaca, two sites manifest distinct human-ecological relationships: a superfund site, still toxic after 25 years of cleanup, stands juxtaposed to the Fischer Old Growth Forest, one of the only forest ecosystems in the region that has not been logged.
Despite their opposing histories, these sites hold a shared past: human presence on the land. The superfund site illustrates Western ontologies that posit the separation of humans and land: here the human presence on the land is harmful. Yet the old-growth forest, despite its age and health, has not existed outside of human presence. The forest, which is believed to represent pre-contact forest ecosystems, illustrates indigenous ontologies where human presence stewards the health of the land.
How can we cultivate reciprocal relationships with the land? How can we shift the dominant culture to understand human existence as supporting rather than depleting the land? Soil scientist Johannes Lehmann has a clear proposal for one method of reciprocity: nutrient and carbon recycling. Locally, the excreta recycling movement has taken hold in large part due to work such as those of Johannes and thanks to the art and science collaborations of the Soil Factory. And yet the cultural shifts that allow us to view land as ‘resource’ or ‘kin’ mirror the cultural shifts required to see our excrement as ‘waste’ or ‘nutrition’.
Here, urine is medicine. Not only do the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilize the soil, but urine is presented as a glowing form, a golden cube, a treasure.