ANCESTRAL ECOLOGIES:
Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Brooklyn, NY [2026]
4-part installation
Ancestral Ecologies comprises four multisensory installations that consider how African diasporic and Latinx worldviews can inform contemporary ecological knowledge and stewardship.
Created by Brooklyn-based artist Olalekan Jeyifous and the environmental art and architecture practice AD—WO, the 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows, the exhibition responds to distinct phenomena found in the Garden and its communities and explores animism, an indigenous worldview that recognizes the vitality of all living beings and offers contrast to human-centered frameworks. Each work invites visitors to imagine reciprocation and kinship with nature.
Serpentine Specter
Kiln-fired glass, steel frame, waxed thread, and leather
Native Flora Garden
This sculpture is inspired by the Native Flora Garden Meadow’s unique local ecologies, modeled after rare serpentine and pine barren landscapes where only especially resilient and specialized plants can thrive. The work highlights how harsh conditions can support diverse forms of life, offering insights for developing climate-resilient adaptation today.
The sculpture connects ancient geologic processes with present-day industrial materials. Blacks, deep greens, and stonelike grays at the base reflect ultramafic igneous rock and mineral-rich soils, rising into lighter greens, smoky blues, amber, and bright yellow-greens inspired by fire-adapted plants, lichen, seeds, and new growth of inhabitants.
photos by Jeremy Weine
ARTIST CELEBRATION
Photographs by Ryan Barayuga
