1 minute read
May Babcock
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
“In Rhode Island Herbarium, I engage with the living ocean, and I hope that viewers in turn feel connected with the physicality of the natural world through these seaweeds embedded within handmade paper pulp. Because, it is only through knowing and loving something, can one begin to help something—and our planet needs all the help it can get.”
Place-based artist May Babcock investigates the complex relationship between nature and culture by making paper from plants, which she gathers from specific sites. Babcock begins by identifying places to collect plant fibers, sediment, water, and drawings. She then researches hydrology, plant ecologies, geological history, and human-created structures and histories—all of which inform the message of her work.
In her Rhode Island Herbarium series, seaweeds are embedded into wet paper pulp, showing the detailed texture of each plant. The hand lettering in gilded metal leaf indicates either the Google Maps, common, or Algonquian place names of the seaweed collection site. She includes the different site names in order to express the complex and diverse histories of the landscapes. A foundation of her series is the acknowledgement that all Rhode Island waters and lands were First Peoples territory prior to colonization—Narragansett, Wampanoag, Nehântick, Nipmuc, and Pequot.
May Babcock
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Rhode Island Herbarium: Green Hill Beach #1, 2019
Artist-made paper, seaweed, gilded metal leaf
Courtesy of the artist
May Babcock
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Rhode Island Herbarium: Machaquamaganset (Moonstone Beach), 2019
Artist-made paper, seaweed, gilded metal leaf
Courtesy of the artist
May Babcock
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Rhode Island Herbarium: Namcook (Rome Point) #5, 2019
Artist-made paper, seaweed, gilded metal leaf
Courtesy of the artist
May Babcock
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Rhode Island Herbarium: Moshassuck #2, 2018
Artist-made paper, pondweed, gilded metal leaf
Courtesy of the artist
May Babcock
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Rhode Island Herbarium: Potowomut #3, 2019
Artist-made paper, seaweed, gilded metal leaf
Courtesy of the artist
