Invasive Species: Eco/Systems Land Based Initiatives invited people to consider The Cut, a sub-street level, open-air green space, currently being considered for transformation from an abandoned rail line into a beautiful public space for all in the heart of Philadelphia. Today, as a natural environment of an ignored patch of the city’s streetscape, this passive ecosystem is integral in creating critical resources for community residents and passersby. This narrative is not limited to plants and wildlife, as neighborhoods stewarded by people who have migrated are often neglected by institutional authority and seen as passive, when in reality they also generate richness for the community through land-based traditions. You can read more about the Invasive Species: Eco/Systems Land Based Initiatives project here.

The project culminated in Fall 2023 to include an Outdoor Exhibition, Performances, AAI Block Party Community Day, Workshops, and a Gallery Exhibition, in which I presented, Line of Demarcation.

Line of Demarcation is a light installation reflecting on the complex relationships that shape our understanding of the natural world.

The installation uses 2000+ suspended fiber optic lights to form a network reminiscent of The Cut and The Rail Park’s subterranean plant roots, as well as negative space to represent the invisible borders we use to classify and confine our ecosystems.

In this underground view, people can move freely between & around the unclassified entangled roots momentarily blurring what (and who) is “native” and “invasive” to examine the human impact on migration, the impact of language on perception and classification, and the consequences of that impact on stigmatization, stewardship and care.