T.U.R.F (Transplanted Urban Residential Flora)
This is a body of work referred to as T.U.R.F: Transplanted Urban Residential Flora, which explores the proliferation of non-native spontaneous plant populations, thriving in the midst of urban environments. At the present, this work consists of a series of photographic botanical portraits which document each species outdoor habits, a formal study, and the stages of transforming such flora into various media including pigments, chromatic distillations, and charcoal.
The value of a project such as this is in its ability to bridge connections between a congruent history of human migrations and settlement with the plants that turn up in the vacant lots and roadsides of our built environments. The cosmopolitan nature of this flora and its ability to adapt to such stresses as abundant pavement, soaring temperatures, and pollutants that dominate our urban ecosystems suggests they have a beneficial role to play in the evolution of cultural landscapes facing extreme conditions.
As Peter Del Tredici states in Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast, “On their own and free of charge, these plants provide ecological services including temperature reduction, oxygen production, carbon storage, food and habitat for wildlife, pollution mitigation, and erosion control on slopes. Around the world, wild plants help to make urban environments more habitable for people.”