Heartwood (2025)

cast hemp paper on branch, found branches of corpus kousa (asiatic dogwood), microfilament, hemp pulp, steel

Commissioned site-responsive installation at Wave Hill

110 W x 84 D x 58 H Inches

Composed of found Asiatic dogwood branches from a public garden in New York, this piece explores ideas of opacity, displacement and survival. Kousa dogwood is a nonnative ornamental tree, considered “naturalized” in the state. From an external, horticultural standpoint, the species of a fallen branch can be identified by its bark, buds or leaves — none of which were present on these particular limbs. The layer of handmade paper cast on the surface of the branch mimics both bark and skin, playing with ideas of internal versus externally imposed ideas of identity.