nature phase

nature phase is a research-based project conducted in Spring 2023. A site-specific series centered on The Meadows at FDR Park in Philadelphia, nature phase explores placemaking, land use, power, and ecological agency.

The “Meadows” at FDR park have had a varied history of land use, including a long-running but often-flooded golf course. As a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, the land was neglected and quickly transformed into meadows and wetlands, a thriving natural habitat as well as a popular destination for rest and recreation.

In 2021, the FDR Park Conservancy proposed plans to raze the meadow and drain the wetland in order to renovate the land and convert a portion to athletic fields. Despite strong public resistance, clear-cutting and construction began in 2022. The project’s title, nature phase, is derived from the FDR Park Conservancy’s FDR Park Plan, in which plans for the renovation of The Meadows were referred to as “the Nature Phase.”

In my visits I encountered numerous signs at The Meadows reading, “A wetland is coming to FDR!” The signs were strewn about the park, many absorbed by the existing wetland. When the signs lay on the ground for extended periods, they stifle plants below. While they were intended to rally public support, to many the signs symbolized imminent ecological destruction. 

In response to these encounters, I created a series of handmade paper works consisting of seeds and plant material gathered from The Meadows. Water collected from the wetlands was used in the process of paper-making, softening and giving form to dead material. The resulting paper holds a variety of seeds and acts as its own planting medium.

The seeded papers, formed in the dimensions of a sign, were designed to replace signs wherever one had fallen. As the paper comes in contact with water, the meadow seeds generate new life.

A limited quantity of Meadow-seed paper has been preserved and is available upon request.