Arboreal Ethereal

Solo show on view at the Bronx River Art Center from July 10 - August 16, 2025, as part of the BRAC Artist Studio Program Spotlight Series. Through an immersive installation of paper-based sculptures and community-centered programming, I confront the urgent themes of environmental degradation, memory, and migration in The Bronx and beyond. The exhibition is produced with curatorial support from Fulbright scholar Alena Alekseeva and an Artist talk and discussion with independent curator Jennifer McGregor. The exhibition features new and recent works from my series Nature in Absentia and relevant past and ongoing projects. As visitors enter the deep green walls of the gallery, I invite viewers into a temporary ecosystem of my own making — a space haunted by life casts of tree trunks, butchered stumps, and preserved cattails under a canopy of flitting butterflies amongst regenerated flower blossoms and coconut palm leaves. This monochromatic “forest,” crafted from natural paper stained by the elements, evokes the loss of green spaces. In contrast, the lurid colors captured overhead of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill and recent electoral college maps punctuate the installation, representing the vivid by-products of human development. Photos by Mark Shaw