A Good Place to Cry (2025)

A Good Place to Cry is an extension of the project High Line Park Is a Good Place to Cry, originally shown in October 2024 at NOoSPHERE Arts, New York. This site-specific sculptural installation commented on the Kingsland Wildflowers project and humanity's efforts to restore and reconstruct nature as an act of resilience. It explored the importance of nature in grieving and processing emotions, as well as the longing for nature in urban environments. In doing so, the installation underscored the close connection between sustainable practices and nurturing our wellbeing.
The inspiration for this project stemmed from a friend who once remarked, “I like the High Line; I go there sometimes to cry. It’s a good place to cry.” These words became the starting point and inspiration for the project's title and theme: human efforts to restore nature, the importance of natural spaces for emotional processing, the desire to reconnect with the body through nature, and the resilience found in these connections.
Interacting with nature offers numerous therapeutic benefits, particularly in the context of grief and healing. Spending time in natural environments can help reduce stress and anxiety, elevate mood, and foster a sense of calm. Research indicates that exposure to nature can lower cortisol levels, the hormone associated with stress, which is especially important during times of mourning.
In urban environments, access to nature is often limited. In the absence of "real" nature, we are often left with a constructed or reconstructed substitute. The nature that is provided is often controlled or shielded, with prohibitions against walking on the grass or interacting with it in any meaningful way. One becomes a spectator of nature, an observer, rather than a participant or a part of it.
The black coloring of the flower references the sorrow tied to environmental loss, as well as personal grief. As nature shrinks, the spaces and calmness needed for emotional processing also disappear. While the project can be interpreted as a memorial for a specific event, it also invites broader reflection on the destruction of nature and wildlife as a whole.
This text was originally written for the project High Line Park Is a Good Place to Cry and has been slightly adapted for the Herbarium project.