Half-stripped Shortcut
Year Completed: 2026
Materials: Site installation with fallen tree
Dimensions: 12” x 12” x 24”
The Project
Half-Stripped Shortcut was created as a site-specific installation using only materials already present in the landscape. While walking a well-worn path through the woods, I noticed a fallen tree lying directly across the trail, creating a physical barrier in a route shaped by repeated human use. Rather than removing the obstacle, I responded to it by selectively stripping away a section of bark at the point where the path crossed beneath the trunk. The intervention was intentionally minimal, requiring no introduced materials and leaving the surrounding environment otherwise unchanged.
Ideas
The work explores the relationship between human movement and the natural world. The dark, exposed wood creates a visual marker that contrasts with the lighter bark surrounding it, drawing attention to a place that would otherwise be overlooked. By emphasizing a single point of contact between the trail and the fallen tree, the installation highlights how people continuously adapt landscapes to suit their movement while nature simultaneously reshapes those same spaces. The resulting form is simple and understated, existing somewhere between a sculpture and a trace of human presence within the environment.