Ponderosa

Off-Center Gallery, Missoula MT, 2017

Hand-burned silk, dual-sided digital projection, 35” x 35” x 35”

In collaboration with plant physiologist Gerard Sapés

Layers of silk are hand-burned with a soldering iron, tracing the image of tracheates, hollow passageways for transporting water, in a two-year-old Ponderosa seedling. As the soldering iron burns multiple layers of fabric, the holes generated become narrower, referencing the restriction of plant passageways as they move higher in the stem against the force of gravity. Light from the projection snakes through these holes, much the same way water meanders up the stem of the tree. Viewers are encouraged to stand in the space between panels, experiencing an analogue of the internal functioning of a Ponderosa trunk in a tangible way.