We are living in very challenging, complex and critical years due to human’s ongoing damaging ecological and social impact on the planet. We need the laden potential of collaboration and art to ignite- new ideas, well-being, new perspectives, and needed solutions.
As an artist, I have found the process of collaboration, often in the form of artist and scientist to be integral to my practice.
I create works that investigate connection to place and empathy towards the broader ecosystem. In my projects I have explored landscapes and forests along the gradient from the tundras of the Arctic (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023), all the way to the urban forests within New York City. I explore the unseen within this context often focusing on the subsurface and the underground. Recently I have focused on the sonic ecosystem within soils, waters, and inside trees and plants. Through this process of revealing our surroundings in new surprising ways, an intimate connection to the broader ecosystem is emphasized. With a natural world that feels more and more distant as it seems to slip between our fingers, I hope to cultivate feelings of excitement for and closeness to our natural world. It is through these feelings of excitement, hope and connection that I believe we can better step in the direction of a respectful and healthy relationship within our interwoven communities of humans and non-human beings alike.
To learn more about Nikki’s work, watch the videos below: