An art installation on the campus of Michigan State University is highlighting the trees expected to be cleared for the construction of the Spartan Gateway District.
The installation, “Where the Light Gets In,” features LED tubes mounted on trees. They appear to be piercing the heart of each tree.
Forestry and fine art graduate student Hailey Becker co-designed the installation.
She said she hopes the installation can help people navigate complicated feelings about seeing trees cut down.
“Everybody is connected to the land, whether we realize it or not, so when you see these trees cut down, it is okay to feel sad about it,” Becker said.
Visitors at the installation are invited to participate in a survey to assist with Becker’s research on what her collaborator Patrick Taylor described as “eco-grief,” which focuses on the social and psychological effects of losing green spaces.
Becker said eco-grief can manifest in the form of how people treat each other when dealing with emotions around land stewardship.
“Arborists on campus don’t typically tell people when they cut down trees because people call them tree killers, even though they take their job so seriously, and they are truly in charge of maintaining the health and well-being of all of the beautiful trees on campus,” Becker said.
The MSU Board of Trustees voted last week to approve construction of the Spartan Gateway District, which will include a new Olympic sports arena, hotel, restaurants, apartments and more.
While Becker said the university has shifted towards constructing buildings out of wood to be more sustainable than traditional materials, she added that can also cause complex feelings.
“In order to build the sustainable buildings, it requires the cutting down of trees, so coming to terms with both of those can be difficult,” Becker said.
But the goal of the installation isn’t to stop the Spartan Gateway District or simply suggest that we need to plant more trees, Taylor said.
“If you look at the history of these areas those trees are coming down at, there haven’t always been trees there. It’s not like we’re clear cutting a forest for the buildings,” Taylor said. “There were buildings there before and it was transferred to being a green space and now it’s going back to being a built environment again.”
Instead, Taylor said the installation is meant to provide space and time for people to mourn the loss of the green space in hopes of mitigating the eco-grief they may experience if the removal of the trees came as more of a shock.
The installation at the corner of Trowbridge and S. Harrison Roads will be visible through the end of the month. A closing reception will be held next Friday.
Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.