“Shared Pathways (Iteration III)” // 160 hand-sculpted birds made from White Stoneware clay, acrylic paint, monofilament // Individual bird scale: approx. 1.5” H x 10” W x 5” L // Installation scale: 14’ H x 11’2’’ W x 55’ L // 2026
Shared Pathways is a preemptive ecological memorial that renders the culturally invisible violence of bird-window collisions visible. Within this work, bird-window strikes function as a metonym for the broader violences of the Anthropocene, translating dispersed ecological harm into a legible and mournable scale through the quantifiable loss of birds. Operating across the past, present, and future, this work mourns non-human lives already taken, confronts the conditions that produce ecological harm, and anticipates further loss if these systems remain unchallenged.
Composed of 160 hand-sculpted ceramic birds, this installation materializes the death of non-humans, allowing viewers to inhabit the weight of loss and recognize themselves within structures of harm. The use of white draws from the visual language of memorialization, conveying absence while allowing the forms to oscillate between visibility and invisibility within the gallery space. This instability mirrors ecological violence that is present yet often overlooked. Traversing the length of the ICA hallway, the birds collide against an invisible force, referencing glass as both a literal and symbolic barrier.
Grounded in familiar Maine species, Shared Pathways transforms ecological harm into a local, relational experience, inviting viewers to participate in ecological care as an ongoing, shared practice. An accompanying resource extends this invitation beyond the gallery, offering accessible resources to mitigate bird strike deaths.
Photos by Joel Tsui
Photos by Joel Tsui
Photos by Joel Tsui
Photos by Joel Tsui
Photos by Joel Tsui
“Shared Pathways (Iteration II)” // 60 hand-sculpted birds made from White Stoneware clay, acrylic paint, monofilament, eye hooks, epoxy, and MDF panel // Each bird is approximately 5 in x 4 in // Installation scale: 6 ft L x 11 ft H x 3 ft W // 2025
Sound played periodically within installation space and was created by using individual species songs and calls sourced from Cornell Lab of Ornithology
“Shared Pathways (Iteration I)” // 22 Hand-sculpted birds made from stoneware clay, acrylic paint, monofilament, eye hooks, epoxy // Each bird is approximately 5 in x 4 in // Installation scale 17 ft L x 9 ft H x 13 ft W // 2025
(detail: outside the gallery looking in)