THE STANDING DEAD

2020
Installation of natural light backlit imagery printed and layered on vellum

Imagery captured on forest preserves in Lake County, Illinois– Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Sioux and Peoria land— and installed in a cypress “ghost swamp” in Orleans Parish, Louisiana—Chocktaw and Chitimacha land.

A glance at the lasting support of the body in ecology, through death and decay.

Standing dead timber, also known as forest snag, are dead or dying trees that are a structural component of forest ecology, providing critical habitat for mammals and birds. They are optimal habitat for cavity nesters, such as wood peckers. Snag creation occurs naturally as trees die due to old age, disease, drought, or wildfire. A snag undergoes a series of changes from the time the tree dies until final collapse, and each stage in the decay process has particular value to certain wildlife species. [1]

1. Keen, F. P. 1955. The rate of natural falling of beetle-killed ponderosa pine snags. Journal of Forestry 53(10):720–723.