Held

2022, Site-specific installation

Organic biodegradable cotton yarn

Held is an installation at MacLeish Field Station in the woods of Western Massachusetts. Cotton yarn in shades of amber, ochre, and rust—colors drawn from dying leaves and the graphics of IPCC climate reports—wraps around the exposed root of a fallen tree. The yarn embraces the form tightly but gently, like a cocoon or a loving hug, an act of tenderness toward something already in the process of decay. The piece remains in the forest, moving through the seasons, slowly becoming part of the landscape it honors.

At the heart of the root ball, a flat moss-covered stone is carved out and set in place as an invitation to engage. Echoing the Jewish tradition of leaving stones on a grave, offerings may be left here—small gestures of witness and care. The piece asks how we attend to the transient, how we express reverence for what is passing. Grief and nourishment are not opposites; Held suggests they arrive together, intertwined like yarn around a dying root, holding what cannot be saved but deserves to be seen.