Mixed Media, dimensions vary, 2023
A few years back I started collecting pine cones on my many travels. So far, I have pine cones from three continents, eight countries, and five US states. Smuggled across international borders in an act of (ir)responsible rebellion, they have become a collection of memories made manifest. As a seed, pinecones carry the potential for change if/when they end up in new ground. As a metaphor, these seeds lead to the germination of new possibilities in the mind: the growth of communities of illegally embodied strangers and new ways of embodying a place that’s not defined “for you.” A private and delighted means of movement. But to be enshrined is to be set apart. When viewed together, these cabins become a community of individuals that speaks to the somewhat dubious human desire to immortalize, consecrate and isolate both nature and our relationships. (It’s important here to acknowledge that carrying plant materials across national and ecological borders can have very detrimental effects. Pine cones must be cleaned and treated so as to not be able to grow in new areas. Additionally, this cleaning process ensures that insects, parasites, and fungi likewise do not adversely affect newly introduced environments.)
Featured in the solo exhibition Camp Camp 2023: Be Gay Do Crimes. Curated by Madison and Matt Creech for Fried Fruit Art Gallery in Wilmington, NC, USA.