“Bough” consists of five abstract sculptural “drawings” created from processed wood connected to branches and dried plants collected from Wave Hill, as well as a sound piece of the songs of eight local migratory birds whose populations are declining, such as Cerulean Warblers and Purple Finch, among others. The birdsongs are connected to a motion detector that stops the sound once a visitor enters the room. Visitors must remain still to hear all eight birds.
The exhibition speaks to how we manipulate the natural world to serve our needs; such as grafting trees together, shaping them through trimming, tying, and weighting, to more destructive actions such as forest clearing, and how our actions cause the decline of plant and animal species.
