Created for Horn Family Fund for Environmental Research Fellowship.
Spring 2021 to Present
Intent
How would a drawerful of moss complicate my relationship in an urban NYC apartment to the beauty of nature and the connectedness of nature? I want to have a live art installation representing biology and nature. I want to play around with the location and time bound memories and objects like Catskill based moss. I harvest and preserve moments in time and pay attention to how nature is beautiful and artful as well as my intimate relationship with the moss and plants that I harvested. They used to live in the wilderness of Catskill Mountain now they live in an acrylic drawer in my New York City apartment. Due to the optimal photosynthesis, temperature, humidity and inclusiveness of the acrylic drawer, it became an semi-enclosed ecosystem where the water I originally put in the soil evaporates and liquidizes on the top surface or the drawer then rains back down to the soil. Since May I haven't had to water the drawer.
Description
In May 2021 I went to Wyndham, NY in the Catskills Mountain for a retreat. During the retreat my friends and I explored the wilderness full of fugai, decayed wood where I captured sound. I want to harvest the natural wilderness such as moss, fern and other leaves that are unique to the climate of Catskill and bring the Catskill to my New York City apartment.
Process
My friends and I were wandering in the wilderness collecting sounds of nature, birds, stepping on to the grass, moss and wood. One of my friends has a PhD in insects and used to study plants and he pointed out unique species of moss and ferns to the area. With his help and no harm to nature, we picked up a piece of fresh moss, a piece of fern leaf and carried it by hand to the house we were staying in. We then laid the moss and leaves flat, letting it air out for a few hours. Then the greens were transferred carefully into bags and stored in the refrigerator to keep it moist. After I arrived back in my apartment in New York City I obtained an acrylic box and pulled out a drawer and deployed layers of soil with moisture into the acrylic drawer. The moss and leaves were transferred onto the new soil. I sprayed some mineral water to keep it moist then put the drawer into the box. I used to grow light during rainy and gloomy days to encourage photosynthesis. But most of the time I just leave the drawer in the acrylic box on my windowsill.
