ana macarthur
Dichromate holograms on glass, steel,
sandblasted glass, water, pump, laser
photogram, xerox prints, paint, river mud, cottonwood seeds
300 sq ft (91,44 m) installation, 76" x 4' x 4'
(1,93 m x 1,22 m x 1,22 m) glass object/ stand
Tenuous seed to riparian fertility
1997
Designed specifically for an exhibition curated around the concern for the broad spectrum environmental damage to the Rio Grande, a major river in the southwestern United States. This work focused on the cottonwood tree, as providing the largest dominate canopy on which most of the riparian zone depends, and which is threatened due to over control of the river. Dams, levies, and reservoirs have restricted the amount of water in the river, and the natural flow and flooding cycles, which create the rich silty soils in which the cottonwood seed germinates.
Over the last series of years biologists have been concerned due to the decrease in number of new cottonwood. Reciprocity is an issue, as the presence of these trees increase the amount and flow of water in the river. The trunk of a large cottonwood tree is "mirrored" within a large glass object resembling a leaf, and constructed out of multiple glass tubes. Inserted in each tube are holographic impressions of the skin of a cottonwood tree... its bark.
Water pumped to the top of the glass work, drips sparingly over the glass tubes, as an emphasis of the drying out of the vascular system (or waterways) of the cottonwood. A large laser photogram on the wall behind was generated by directing laser light through a decaying cottonwood leaf, revealing another complex system of waterways.