Materials: Native ImpressionsTM "Memorial Wreaths/Wreaths of Celebration?" and "Death Mask/Living Mask?"; grapevine; line drawings of endangered plant species printed on velum paper; black ribbon; box; burlap; plastic human hands.
The installation was a response to researching Florida's 51 animals and 48 plants listed on the Federally Endangered (FE) List. The information is hard to find and not centrally located. U.S. Fish and Wildlife has a list of the animals, but no images. Eventually I found Florida's Endangered Plant species on the Florida Department of Agriculture website. The information listed was extremely incomplete. There were no photos of the plants, but line drawings of some of the plants listed. While the line drawings are beautiful, they are certainly not enough in helping to identify the plants in the field, nor was there any other information listed about the plants. In fact, the drawings gave me the feeling that the plants are already extinct. Many of these plants are endemic to Florida! Much more needs to be done to communicate clear information and an action plan developed to encourage every citizen of this great state to participate in changing the fate of our endangered plants and animals.
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