A Participatory Plant Press for Anticipatory Grief (2024)
26” x 10” x 12” wood, cardboard, newsprint, plants from the site, monoprinted tags, linen string, rocks and brick from the demolished church and rectory at the site
What would a plant say? During my recent Center of Gravity residency in North Adams, MA, I spent time investigating the “vacant” parcel across the street, a beautiful space steeped in historical erasure. North Adams is the ancestral land of the Muhheaconneok or Mohican people (People of the Waters That Are Never Still). Native peoples were forcibly removed from this area by European settlers. Then—for 150 years—a large church, St. Francis of Assisi, sat here. In 2016 the Catholic Diocese in Springfield, MA, knocked it down and sold it for $1.4 million, to a developer, the Colvest Group, also of Springfield. It is now slated to be a Starbucks, other retail space, and a 57-vehicle parking lot.
I spent time getting to know the communities of individuals reside here – black eyed susan, vetch, mugwort, milkweed, wild thyme, wild grape vine, and more.
How are plants witness to the story of a place?
What if the plants had a say in how this land was used?
How do they want to be remembered?
During an open studio event at Installation Space, on July 24th, viewers were invited to spend time at the site and get to know the current tenants, the plants. They then laid them to rest in the plant press and shared the plant’s thoughts and feelings about the proposed development on the catalog tag.
