Following the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of the police, I have seen Philly (and many other places) mobilize to fight against racism and a justice system that is not doing its job.

Since the pandemic started I’ve been thinking a lot more about my personal impact in the world - how I contribute to capitalism and how detrimental that can be. I think about how I’ve always thought of Amazon as a necessary evil. And then seeing how one person can gain so much wealth when the bulk of the world is struggling - makes you realize it’s not a necessary evil. I can find other ways. But I can find other ways because I now have the time to do so. Working less has provided me the time to invest in my community, to grow vegetables in my garden, and make hundreds of masks to give away to the community.

I have been working on this project I’m calling Tree Connection, which is mostly an installation exploring how people are social/romantic and how that might relate to trees, revolving around 3 themes: living room, state park visitor center, and tv game show. This blog post is an attempt to work through some of those themes. (and this one doesn’t have anything to do with nature)

I’ve been using these three spaces as three constructed social spaces, at different scales. Living rooms are at the smallest scale — living rooms are often occupied by small, intimate groups — people you know well, family members, lovers, etc. I often associate living rooms with awkward small talk, forced social time with family, or illicit teenage make-out sessions while pretending to watch television.