Rewilding the Joshua tree archive 2023 - ongoing

How do the representations of plants impact our relationships to them? In the multilayered sculptural painting series Rewilding the Joshua tree archive, I incorporate the fusions, messiness, and porosity of Joshua tree species interactions, dissolving the boundary of the individual with a turn towards the interspecies rumpus of “becoming with” ontologies. Beginning with early colonial representations of Joshua trees sourced from the archives of botanical prospecting expeditions which marked them as biological plunder, I layer and rework the Joshua tree ecosystem over the isolated and flat illustration style depiction of the individual, recovering the tree back to its interspecies assemblages and complex wonder. This is part of a series work in progress.