About the work
This image shows an installation on view during Gowanus Open Studios in Brooklyn 2025. The installation, Root Cause, invites viewers into a contemplative space where exposed tree roots explore the ways in which our personal identities and collective histories are intertwined, often invisibly, beneath the surface of our daily lives. Beneath the suspended roots is a lush garden of thriving plants and on the surrounding walls are graphite drawings of roots. Additionally, one of the sculptures can be seen against the back wall. The roots serve as both metaphor and mirror. They represent our ancestral lines, cultural inheritances, and the foundational systems—social, historical, and governmental—that shape who we are as individuals and as a society. By lifting these roots out of the earth and placing them under scrutiny, the work invites us to contemplate the often-unseen forces that sustain or constrain us.
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