Peat Quilt 2

2022

Handmade paper from post-extraction ecosystem plants, pleather, quilt batting, UV-reactive dye, ink, pen, glaze pencil, graphite, plant-based ink, thread, springs. 24” x 38” excluding spring hanging system.

This work enlarges microscopic forms of Sphagnum moss cells. I fill these cell analogues with quilt batting while in the peatland ecosystem the cells fill themselves with water – up to 20x their own weight. This waterlogged sponge effect creates the anaerobic, carbon-rich environment that enables mostly only Sphagnum to survive – similar to how we humans engineer environments that favor mostly us over other species.

On view at Materialize: Visualizing Climate Change exhibition, Belger Crane Gallery, Kansas City, MO

https://belgerarts.org/materialize-visualizing-climate-change

Photographs by Colton Rothwell, video courtesy of Belger Crane