Visible Invisible
Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, Morrilton AR
Collaborators: Laura Terry, Hannah Moll, Erin Cox
Visible Invisible was selected through a juried competition for exhibition at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute. The work was installed on the Institute grounds and open to the public for one year (April 2018 to April 2019).
The intent of the project was to provide an experience for visitors that highlights the ecological and cultural significance of a pine grove preserved by Governor Rockefeller at Winrock Farms. The installation makes connections between what is visible - a dense plantation of southern pine - and what is invisible - the ecological connections between the trees, the endangered red cockaded woodpecker, and all other species above and below the ground who are interconnected in networks of interdependency.
Nine tree cloaks establish a visual and temporal datum in the grove, marking the significance of these trees as potential future hosts for the red cockaded woodpecker. A field of wood stakes mark the expanse of the trees’ root structure, defining both the extent of the rhizosphere below the surface of the ground and the circulation of people through the grove. The diameter of the cloaks is equal to the diameter of short leaf pines at maturity. The cloaks serve as a measure of the growth that will occur between the present moment and the future time of occupancy by the red cockaded woodpecker. The woodpecker excavates the heartwood of shortleaf pine affected by heartwood decaying fungi, which only occurs in trees one hundred years of age or more. If preserved as a managed stand, the trees of this grove could one day be inhabited by the birds and their associated species.