HArrow

2023

Glass, Steel, Demolition Building Debris, Dirt

H15” x W10’ x D30’

The fragile agricultural systems we rely on may collapse, leaving the Earth we need to till as nothing more than the rubble of what we've built on it.

Installed in the now-vacant Lee Paper Company Mill Complex, a former factory listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. It was established in the Kalamazoo River Valley in 1866, with the opening of the first paper mill in the area. For nearly 100 years, the Mill defined manufacturing in Vicksburg as a pillar of the community that impacted every aspect of life in the Village of Vicksburg, Michigan. It turned cotton rags into fine writing paper. This installation responded to the Mill and surrounding farmlands that comprise most of Southern Michigan. Using the stone and dirt debris from the preservation and construction of the mill paired with a glass harrow, a device used after plowing for breaking up and smoothing out the surface of the soil. The purpose of harrowing is to break up clods and provide a soil structure, called tilth, suitable for planting seeds. Reflecting on the fragile agricultural system that sustains our daily life but is also balanced with the climate systems we rely on for food.