earthseed: kinship
Image courtesy of Smack Mellon. Photo by Etienne Frossard.
earthseed is an immersive, large-scale storytelling installation, sculpture, and archive. Inspired by temazcal ceremonies and ecological design, the sculpture takes on the architectural form of a pinecone, which houses intimate stories that are encoded onto seedpod lights. A pinecone is a seed pod that opens and closes in response to the conditions of its environment; depending on its context, it decides to share its seed or to withhold. Similarly, earthseed is an archive that withholds and discloses its seedstories according to landback protocols of entry.
Activated by a passcode and a users touch, each seedpod activates a sound collage featuring excerpts from oral history interviews between me and my long time friend, Ximena Violante. These are collaged alongside political speeches from Land Day — specifically the NYC March with Palestine for Land and Liberation.
Through weaving between modern and traditional land-based technologies, the work aim to a be site of refuge and catharsis — where stories are protected, to provide medicine, to provide a compass for those who say no to settler colonialism and are committed to decolonizing the mind, body, and land.
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found plywood, computer, coathanger, pantyhose, bamboo, LED lights, capacitive sensor, arduino, 3D printed seed, bluetooth headphones
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My research was guided by the help of many hands, teachers, and friends.
Thank you Ximena Violante, Sharon de la Cruz, David Rios, Tanika Williams, Ali Santana, Vito Ciancia, Phil Caridi, fields harrington, Quetzi, Simone Salvo, Cara Page, Erica Woodland, Oliver Yuan, An-Kai Cheng, Cindy Hu, Anna Lin, Jo Suk, Mashi Zaman, Lita Vinueza, Olive Yu, Quetzi, Amy Andrieux, Nigel, Derrick, Andrés Franco, & Isaiah Bayes.
Installation view of Spiral Time (2024), curated by Alex Santana at Smack Mellon. Image courtesy of Smack Mellon. Photo by Etienne Frossard.
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