No Trees in Paradise, 2020. Charcoal and house paint on wall of a historic house on Governors Island.
Created during my residency on Governors Island with 4heads, the tree was drawn directly on the walls of a centennial home on Colonels Row. The translucent leaves were painted with charcoal powder suspended in rubbing alcohol. The tree spanned all four walls and covered the ceiling. It took over 3 months to render and 5 minutes to paint over.
It's both a guardian and ghost. I invited it inside to watch over me, but at the same time it has its own agenda. I think a lot about the pre-settler, indigenous landscape of New York. How slow change must have been before the rapid, violent overturning and displacement of the past 400 years. Just on Governors Island, I think about how many trees were felled with every transition, including the building of the park on the southern part this past decade. This tree is a haunting, made from its own charred siblings. It mourns the loss not only of the reign of great trees on Paggank, but of centuries spent with Indigenous people who saw trees and ecosystems as collaborators and not competition.
