messages in the mail/ invitational transects

I’ve carried 567 postcards into the library

at the Arboretum, where I signed and addressed them to those houses, apartments, offices, and businesses that abut the conservation park.

The messages traced a path into the Arboretum as I took them in, and they traveled back out again as they left in the mail.

This movement of information mimics the movement of genetic information carried by other animals and natural forces, such as squirrels and flowing water.

The cards invited those whose daily lives take place at the edge of the Arboretum to visit this website, learn about the project, and participate if they would like to.

The relations map on the cards is carried over from the previous iteration of this project, in which 14 trees were tested. On the card I’ve placed dots around the Arboretum to give an aesthetic idea of what we might find after this year’s work is completed.