Keeper / 2025
Solo Exhibition - Fabric of Belonging.Reimagined the common urban tree grate as a keeper, exploring how these structures both protect and constrain the natural world within the urban environment.
Using tree grate as an element, the wall-mounted components draw direct inspiration from this everyday urban feature designed to allow air and water access for trees growing amidst the concrete ground. The artwork is a reinterpretation of the grate in a way that highlights its role as a symbolic boundary, protecting and imprisoning the tree.
The work invites the viewer to reconsider the complex relationships between nature and the man-made world. The tree grate, while ostensibly serving to nurture and safeguard the tree, also represents a form of restraint and against the natural order.
By presenting this urban design element as a wall piece, it encourages a closer, more contemplative examination of the tension between the practical necessities of city planning and the inherent need to protect the fragile ecosystems that persist within urban landscapes.
Using tree grate as an element, the wall-mounted components draw direct inspiration from this everyday urban feature designed to allow air and water access for trees growing amidst the concrete ground. The artwork is a reinterpretation of the grate in a way that highlights its role as a symbolic boundary, protecting and imprisoning the tree.
The work invites the viewer to reconsider the complex relationships between nature and the man-made world. The tree grate, while ostensibly serving to nurture and safeguard the tree, also represents a form of restraint and against the natural order.
By presenting this urban design element as a wall piece, it encourages a closer, more contemplative examination of the tension between the practical necessities of city planning and the inherent need to protect the fragile ecosystems that persist within urban landscapes.
***