Tamarisk

Installed on the foundation of a demolished jackrabbit hut in 29 Palms, the field of miniature salt-bearing trees is about self-defeating strategies of territorial dominance. Through the secretion of salt, Tamarisk makes the land where it grows useless to other plants. The jackrabbit huts were a parallel human strategy in early California, deposited across the landscape to claim parcels of land for the builder.

Tamarisk was constructed through a combination of generative processes. The miniature trees are cut from paper, with unique forms determined algorithmically. The algorithmic process was designed to yield forms that resembled those of the desert smoke tree. They were then soaked in saline solution before being attached to a cracked concrete plane, itself encrusted in salt. The trees have a subtle salt coating that references the salt-producing Tamarisk species.

Tamarisk was shown as part of the Dry Immersion III: Desert Projects exhibition in 29 Palms.