I was the artist-in-residence for the American Museum of Natural History Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Student Conference on Conservation Science in New York City in 2026. The project that I led was titled Currents, which was an artist-driven participatory work that invited conference attendees to contribute to a collaborative installation making the often unseen dimensions of conservation visible. The river served as both a gathering place and a metaphor for the movement of ideas, knowledge, and care across communities, generations, and landscapes.
Participants were invited to reflect on their hopes for the future of conservation (e.g., What current in conservation would you like to strengthen?). They were then invited to record their reflections on small pieces of earth-toned paper that were folded into boats and placed onto the river, symbolically sending their hopes, commitments, questions, and aspirations into a shared current. Participants also created small clay “conservation witness” out of clay. The “witnesses” represented plants, animals, people, and landscape features that inspire or bear witness to conservation work. As the conference went on, the boats will be unfolded and the messages were collaged alongside the river filling in the landscape.
The landscape and the witnesses created a collective portrait of the conference community and its shared commitments to biodiversity conservation.
I also joined a panel to discuss my work bringing together art, sciences, and communities.
