Sorbus Decora (2011) is comprised of sixteen photographs of what is commonly known as Showy Mountain Ash. These shrubs were planted by a developer on the front lawns of a subdivision townhouse complex, to provide unity and uniformity to the individual units. By removing these shrubs from their original context, the individual care and attention with which they have been treated by the home owners becomes apparent. Some shrubs have been carefully trimmed and fertilized; others have been neglected; and yet others have been completely removed (indicated in the exhibition with a blank panel). As curator Linda Jansma notes in an essay on this work “The vegetation has become a player in suburban sprawl’s need to break out from underneath the control of the builders and their attempts at homogenization and conformity.”

Essay by curator Linda Jansma: From no place to nowhere

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