Community

2017, Farley Center/Natural Path Sanctuary Woods, Spring Grove, WI

I loved the idea of this piece but I didn’t feel the execution communicated it well. I might try this idea again because I’m quite intrigued by it but I think I will have to use a different way to tie the trees together and include more trees in the network

Trees cooperate with each other by sending nutrients and carbon back and forth through underground fungal networks connecting their root systems. Researchers have begun to believe that large trees help out small, younger ones. These plants are not really individuals in the sense that Darwin thought, competing for survival of the fittest. They are interacting and trying to help each other survive.

I thought about how these tree networks are much like our own human networks and communities, forming shelter and sanctuary, exchanging and sharing nutrients, helping each other survive and thrive. This installation tries to speak to our connectedness and reveal the networks that are hidden beneath our surfaces.