Travels on the Kissena Creek, 2026
Lumber, molding, cement board, mortar, tile, PVC pipe, paint
Queens Botanical Garden, Flushing, NY 11355
Exhibited August–December 2026

"All water has a perfect memory and is forever trying to get back to where it was."
—Toni Morrison

Before it was rerouted underground to make room for nineteenth-century development, a stream ran through what is now the Queens Botanical Garden. When it rains, the memory of that stream is visible, as runoff flows into various constructed valleys, before being absorbed into the ground.

In this installation, which is sited in the northwest portion of the garden, three headwalls (facades built at the outlets of culverts, or water tunnels) draw attention to the historical Kissena Creek and its ghost. The facades are inspired by architectural traditions in Mexico, India, and Korea—a small selection of the many nations from which Queens residents hail. The markers celebrate the diversity of Queens while engaging in a symbolic “daylighting”: the process of restoring and protecting a buried waterway. The work seeks to extend the Queens Botanical Garden's mission of exploring the ecological and cultural role of water in urban environments across the world.