A soil profile in scientific research is a vertical section of the subsurface to study and classify the layers or horizons that form over time. A deep hole is dug to allow researchers to see the composition below the ground and produce its profile. Each horizon is a distinct layer that has different physical, biological and chemical properties than adjacent ones. The distinctions are visually obvious because of texture and color differences.
Soil profiles can be appreciated on an aesthetic level. When they are exposed they can be breathtakingly beautiful. Being inside a soil profile ravine affects people differently; it can be calming, energizing and sometimes transformative. Some people have attributed this to being six feet underground (or at burial depth) and others speak to being immersed in a biochemical field of microbial activity.
Soil profiles can be appreciated on an aesthetic level. When they are exposed they can be breathtakingly beautiful. Being inside a soil profile ravine affects people differently; it can be calming, energizing and sometimes transformative. Some people have attributed this to being six feet underground (or at burial depth) and others speak to being immersed in a biochemical field of microbial activity.
With Site Profile Flags, I am expanding the notion of a soil profile and visually representing the layers both above and below ground. I am transferring the physical, biological and chemical properties of the layers (e.g. plant, rock, soil, microbe, human) onto fabric through dye-making. The resulting flag marks the site and is a symbol for the interactions between the layers or ecosystem parts that are often symbiotic or mutualist. The flag is a bioregional representation rather than geopolitical.
In 2020-21, I installed Site Profile Flag #4 at Unison Arts in New Paltz, NY. Here is a short audio piece explaining the work and process of making it.
Here is a Hyperallergic review of the Unison exhibit “Owning Earth” with mention of Site Profile Flag #4.
In 2020-21, I installed Site Profile Flag #4 at Unison Arts in New Paltz, NY. Here is a short audio piece explaining the work and process of making it.
Here is a Hyperallergic review of the Unison exhibit “Owning Earth” with mention of Site Profile Flag #4.
Site Profile Flag #3 (Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY)
Site Profile Flag #1 (Marble House Project, Dorset, VT)
Site Profile Flag #4 (Unison, New Paltz, NY)
Dye-making: l. to r. curly dock, marble and rust
Unison (the book) is a result of my research at Unison Arts in New Paltz, NY, in summer 2020 as I planned for the construction of Site Profile Flag #4.
Initially, I invited a handful of people to walk the grounds of the sculpture park to read the landscape with me. Each conversation led to another conversation, unfolding over the course of several weeks.
The final form of the book takes inspiration from the tradition of deep mapping, or intensive exploration of place as developed by William Least Heat-Moon, among others.
Initially, I invited a handful of people to walk the grounds of the sculpture park to read the landscape with me. Each conversation led to another conversation, unfolding over the course of several weeks.
The final form of the book takes inspiration from the tradition of deep mapping, or intensive exploration of place as developed by William Least Heat-Moon, among others.
Unison is a small run, artist book in an edition of 90 published by Eureka! Press in Kingston, NY.
Download a pdf of the book here.
The book is a collaboration with Michael Asbill, Stuart Bigly, Salvatore Engel-Dimauro, Katie Grove, Amanda Heidel, Nance Klehm, Laurel Mutti, Peter Pitzele, Steven Schimmrich, Connor Stedman. Preface by Tal Beery. Drawings by Rachel Meirs. Cover Impression by Invisible Hand Press. Photography by Brooke Singer. Color correction by Yong Kim.
Download a pdf of the book here.
The book is a collaboration with Michael Asbill, Stuart Bigly, Salvatore Engel-Dimauro, Katie Grove, Amanda Heidel, Nance Klehm, Laurel Mutti, Peter Pitzele, Steven Schimmrich, Connor Stedman. Preface by Tal Beery. Drawings by Rachel Meirs. Cover Impression by Invisible Hand Press. Photography by Brooke Singer. Color correction by Yong Kim.
Carbon Sponge is an ongoing interdisciplinary collaboration between artists, farmers, scientists, agroecologist, educators and the public to understand soil as a means to address climate chaos, improve health and build resiliency.
I initiated the project in 2018 while a Designer-in-Residence at the New York Hall of Science. Since then the team has been designing experimental plots to study soil dynamics and developing reliable protocols for anyone to track carbon and other characteristics in soils over time. We are growing the carbon farming movement to sink carbon in soils for the benefit of people, climate, plants and microbes.
Locations:
Carbon Sponge launched at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) in Queens in 2018 and ran through 2019. A second Carbon Sponge garden was planted in Spring/Summer 2019 at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. In 2020, we partnered with five organizations in NYC (Bronx River Alliance’s Foodway, GrowNYC’s Teaching Garden on Governors’ Island, Red Hook Farms and Prospect Farms) to pilot our kit, forming a group of land stewards to discuss urban carbon farming. In 2021, we additionally partnered with New York University’s Urban Farm Lab and two farms in Upstate NY Sugarshack Mushrooms and White Feather Farm. In 2022, we started the Carbon Sponge Hub at White Feather Farm and are now working with 10 farms in the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions.
I initiated the project in 2018 while a Designer-in-Residence at the New York Hall of Science. Since then the team has been designing experimental plots to study soil dynamics and developing reliable protocols for anyone to track carbon and other characteristics in soils over time. We are growing the carbon farming movement to sink carbon in soils for the benefit of people, climate, plants and microbes.
Locations:
Carbon Sponge launched at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) in Queens in 2018 and ran through 2019. A second Carbon Sponge garden was planted in Spring/Summer 2019 at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. In 2020, we partnered with five organizations in NYC (Bronx River Alliance’s Foodway, GrowNYC’s Teaching Garden on Governors’ Island, Red Hook Farms and Prospect Farms) to pilot our kit, forming a group of land stewards to discuss urban carbon farming. In 2021, we additionally partnered with New York University’s Urban Farm Lab and two farms in Upstate NY Sugarshack Mushrooms and White Feather Farm. In 2022, we started the Carbon Sponge Hub at White Feather Farm and are now working with 10 farms in the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions.
Credits:
Collaborators include Dr. Sara Perl Egendorf, Dr. Maha Deeb, Marisa Prefer and Katharhy Flores. Partnerships include: CUNY Advanced Scientific Research Center (ASRC), the Jacob Riis Settlement House at NYCHA Ravenswood, NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) and La Casita Verde (a NYC GreenThumb garden). Funders have included NYSCI, White Feather Farm, Patagonia, Brooklyn Arts Council, Globetrotter Foundation and ASRC.
Press:
Read in Art in America article “Symbiotic Art” by Claire Pentecost with mention of Carbon Sponge from March 2022.
Read the New York Times article “The City’s Buried Treasure is not Under the Dirt. It is the Dirt” with mention of Carbon Sponge from July 25, 2018.
Website:
www.carbonsponge.nyc
Collaborators include Dr. Sara Perl Egendorf, Dr. Maha Deeb, Marisa Prefer and Katharhy Flores. Partnerships include: CUNY Advanced Scientific Research Center (ASRC), the Jacob Riis Settlement House at NYCHA Ravenswood, NYC Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) and La Casita Verde (a NYC GreenThumb garden). Funders have included NYSCI, White Feather Farm, Patagonia, Brooklyn Arts Council, Globetrotter Foundation and ASRC.
Press:
Read in Art in America article “Symbiotic Art” by Claire Pentecost with mention of Carbon Sponge from March 2022.
Read the New York Times article “The City’s Buried Treasure is not Under the Dirt. It is the Dirt” with mention of Carbon Sponge from July 25, 2018.
Website:
www.carbonsponge.nyc
La Casita Verde is a community garden & living laboratory in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, established in 2013. As one of the founding members, I have helped transform this derelict lot that was empty for over 40 years into a green space for people in the neighborhood and beyond to participate in the soil food web. It took us a year to just clear out the garbage and create a solid soil foundation. Our initial focus was composting; you can’t grow healthy food without healthy soil.
One of the first major projects I led at LCV was the design and build of a solar powered Aerated Static Pile (ASP) composter that speeds up the composting process and reduces labor. I am interested in community-driven innovation that aims to rehabilitate damaged ecosystems and increase resiliency in the face of climate change.
Watch a short video about La Casita Verde.
Watch a short video about La Casita Verde.
Toxic Sites launched in 2015. For this project I revisited and expanded my earlier work, Superfund365.org (2007). Both are online data visualizations and sharing platforms focused on the issue of Superfund, or the worst toxic sites in the US as designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Toxic Sites, unlike Superfund365, includes all Superfund sites on the National Priorities List; the current total is more than 1300. Both versions aim to engage people in public information and encourage participation. The visualizations bring together data from the EPA, Agency for Toxic Disease Registry, US Census among others and individuals can attach their stories and media to the official narratives.
Superfund365 was commissioned by Turbulence.org. Toxic Sites was funded by the Open Society Foundations’ Documentary Photography Project.
