Intervene

Governors Island, 2021. Mixed media (found doors, brass, epoxy resin, native plants). Photos by Paul Takeuchi.

Intervene is a site-specific piece reflecting on urban and suburban engagements with nature. Made of twelve doors standing in a closed circle, Intervene toys with the viewers' access to the tree and interior. The utility and visible history of each door provides a shifting lens through which the tree and enclosed space is perceived, calling the viewer to question whether they are on the inside or outside of any given door.

The found doors are preserved to evoke the stories that brought them to salvage yards. One door features a smashed window pane fixed in place. Another, a police seal indicating that a deceased person was found inside. These histories are the foundation for a slow process of layering interventions from the natural world and the artists: Flowers planted in a closet organizer sit next to a soundproof studio door where beetles nest in the foam. Brass pendants are hung on an antique door where newly shed cicadas had been in the weeks before drying their wings. Including twelve doors is a reference to spiritual synchronization with the natural world.

Just above the handle on each door is a brass plaque etched with one word; following them around the circle reads "When One Door Closes Another Door Closes And Another Door Closes And." Though the text appears to have a beginning, it circles back on itself with no end.