Wind and Waves connected natural and social histories through a biodegradable sculpture of a clipper ship, with seeds woven and embedded into its sails and structure. Each seed variety highlighted a different plant with a role in New York City’s immigration history.
From tea plants (the earliest cargo for nautical clippers traveling between the Americas, Asia, and Europe), to rice and millet (brought to the United States during the African diaspora, when captured slaves braided seeds into their hair to preserve their heritage), to the potato (which has South American origins and a role in Irish immigration to New York City) – these seeds and many others created a garden of transportation that reflected the diverse origins of our urban community.