Defensible Space is a clearing at the perimeter of a dwelling or structure designed to protect what lies inside from what threatens it from outside. It is the liminal space at the transition between within and without: it is a buffer, an armor, a boundary, a skin. In the modern era, plant life has often been deployed to delineate or to protect private property, but is then viewed as a hazard or an invasive when it extends—in accordance with its own agency—beyond what is deemed practical, resulting in often bizarre landscaping practices in contemporary urban and suburban environments. Under what circumstances—environmental, interpersonal, political—must spaces be defended? And when do such fortifications take on a life of their own to become dangerous, counterproductive, or absurd?
Still Life with Clippings and Waste Bin, 2023 (diptych)
Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on paper
72 x 50 inches (total)
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Defensible Space, 2022
Boxwood hedges, concrete, electrical tape
50 x 50 x 24 inches
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The Culling, 2023
Watercolor and gouache on paper
36 x 60 inches
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Flagged Hedge, 2022
Ligustrum (Privet) hedge clippings, electrical tape
40 x 85 x 40 inches
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Bound I, 2024
Watercolor and gouache on paper
80 x 45 inches
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Burn Pile, 2022
Oak branches, electrical tape
90 x 90 x 72 inches
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