Half-life Oaks
Half-Life Oaks imagines a future in which one of the South’s most enduring symbols, the Live Oak tree, has been replaced by the materials of the petrochemical industry. Constructed from oil hoses that rise into a synthetic canopy of plastic and polypropylene, the sculpture merges the forms of tree and infrastructure into a single hybrid organism. The title references both radioactive decay and environmental persistence, reflecting on the long-term consequences of industrial dependence. As coastal Louisiana loses land to erosion, subsidence, and rising seas, the conditions necessary for centuries-old oak groves become increasingly fragile. In this speculative landscape, the work asks what remains when the natural systems that have defined a place disappear, leaving behind only the durable relics of extraction and industry.
(Installation at Carroll Gallery at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, 2022)