MOTHER, SHADE MY EYES

2026 — ongoing

A durational work, Mother, Shade My Eyes, continues to investigate spaces as sites of conjure, exchange, continuum, and flux.

Mother, Shade My Eyes consists of a choir of people in repetition stating, “Mother, shade my eyes. The sun is too bright”.

Meanwhile. viewers and participants walk the gallery/space. The gallery/space floor is completely lined in blue tarps which are layered upon one another. The blue tarps fit the exact dimensions of the gallery/space flooring.

Between the two tarps are Urtica dioica (stinging nettles). The Urtica dioica is crushed under the weight of footsteps/wheels/movement/pressures throughout the week.

At the end of each week during the exhibition/happening, a jar is filled with crushed Urtica dioica and placed on a shelf near a photograph of a person shielding their eyes. Next to this image is a small painting of a dried bouquet of wild flowers. These wildflowers reference a field.

In conclusion of the exhibition/happening, the Urtica dioica jars are editioned and available for barter/trade to those interested parties who contractually agree to only use the Urtica dioica one year later to the day of barter/trade.

The mother is at once present and absent. A gentle hand reminding us that relief is never far away.

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This work was researched during my time at the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine in Ithaca, NY.

It is with incredible gratitude that this work is dedicated to a certain field, my classmates and 7Song.