Robin Vuchnich: In Search of Thoreau's Flower

Robin Vuchnich's light-based installation draws on Henry David Thoreau's botanical collection to visualize a sobering reality: more than half the plant species he gathered near Walden Pond are now declining toward local extinction. A projected grid of pressed specimens from Harvard's herbarium is color-coded to show scientific data on species loss, while an immersive three-wall projection surrounds you with wildflowers that respond to your movement. When you walk through the gallery, the flowers shift and fragment - a quiet reminder that human presence reshapes nature, whether we notice it or not.