Refuge: 2023-present
For this project– developed in conjunction with the ecoartspace Soil Dialogues– I chose a site at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, the country’s first urban natural refuge.
Early Process
Beginning in 2023, I conducted a series of tests – first with textiles buried directly in the ground.
My first cloth test done in February/March showed little to no biological activity. A combination of the soil being too cold and wet – and the ground being less hospitable to a variety of lifeforms. Digging up the subsequent tests, I found a slowly expanding mosaic of color.
Fabric buried throughout May showing hints of pinks, purples, blues and oranges. In the wet month of July a densely patterned grid of blue-dotted growth grew across the active knotweed site; resembling the surprising inner flesh of a dragon fruit.
Scientific Testing
RDNA analysis showed a number of surprising species evidenced in the soil.
The results revealed an abundance of fungi and aquatic bacteria underscoring the marsh’s proximity to the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.
The animation in the short video introduces some of the most prevalent species in each kingdom, barely scratching the surface of the thousands of more-than-human inhabitants that have affected the soil.
Exhibitions
The video I created –animated with the data and textiles–has been screened in multiple iterations.
Including an ultrawide version for Icebox Project Space’s 20/92 Festival, The International Soil Conference in Florence, and in the exhibition and Dialoghi del Suolo. The variegated color from the buried cloth samples and the abstracted data are also compiled into a series of translucent scarves to be worn throughout the conference.
I am interested in ideas of layering data, promoting transparency, and instigating conversations around soil. The project in currently being sewn into a collaborative Soil Shroud, on view at The Swale House on Governor’s Island: May 16 – October 25, 2026
In conjunction with publication:
Soils Turn: A Field Guide to Artistic Earthly Engagements
2025
The project was re-envisioned as a ground installation at Big Ramp.
“We Are All Compost is a group show of decomposing compositions of entanglement with the more-than-human world. Curated by William Schwaller, this exhibition brings together a diverse body of work by artists seeking symbiopoeisis with the environment, making with its critters and vibrant matter. Rooted in the materiality of the world around them, these artists embark on collaborations and entanglements with bacteria, composting insects, fungi, plants, soil, and stone in the composition of sculpture, painting, and video.”
The exhibition included Viola Bordon, Bobby Haskell, Narendra Haynes, Rebecca Schultz, and Nichole van Beek
2026
ecoartspace and Urban Soils Institute at Swale House
May 16-October 25, 2026
This year ecoartspace has been invited to help organize exhibitions and residencies at the new Swale House (6B, Nolan Park), founded by Mary Mattingly, in collaboration with the Urban Soils Institute (USI), directed by Tatiana Morin. Patricia Watts has invited ecoartspace members in the greater NYC region to participate, including ten residencies and approximately seventeen exhibitions.
I’ll lead an animation workshop in August 2026 in conjunction with the exhibition.
