“Stories about places are makeshift things. They are composed of the world's debris.” - Michel de Certeau
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This series of small collages, representing oysters, is composed of found material collected from city streets: food wrappers, receipts, junk mail, parking tickets, political fliers, plastic, cardboard. Layers and textures build up gradually, over time, like real oyster shells.
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Oysters used to be so numerous in the Hudson River that all the water was filtered and cleaned by these bivalves in a matter of days. Additionally, oysters are a keystone species, providing nourishment and creating habitat for smaller marine creatures in the nooks and crannies between their shells. They were a major food source for the Lenape indigenous people, as well as settlers, until overharvesting and human-caused pollution reduced their population dramatically and rendered them unsafe for consumption.
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Now, the Billion Oyster Project is spearheading an effort to reintroduce oysters to New York Harbor in reefs, for the above-mentioned ecosystem services as well as to protect the city's coastline against climate change induced storm surges. Efforts are also underway in the New Jersey Meadowlands by NY/NJ Baykeeper.