EMILIE
HOUSSART
DIRTdoors
DIRTdoors, an interactive DIRT Project installation, explores our relationships with the local landscape. Visitors are invited to open doors into the ground and spend time with the billions of living organisms underfoot.
DIRTdoors at Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary
This iteration of DIRTdoors was installed in New Paltz, NY, spread around an area of forest flood plain that connects the biodiverse Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary with the Gardens for Nutrition: affordable, organic community gardens where tools, compost and knowledge are shared. Several more doors could be discovered along the sanctuary paths. At a small garden table, DIRT Dialogues took place during open hours - spaces for tea and public conversation about contemporary food and land practices.
This installation was made with the Dorsky Museum for Rooted: Art + Land, a collaboration between the Dorsky Museum, Walkill Valley Land Trust, Women's Studio Workshop and Cronin Gallery for Upstate Art Weekend 2021. Support was provided by a grant from Women's Studio Workshop.
Site flooding after Hurricane Ida. Nutrients from the river fertilized the land; community gardens were temporarily disrupted, with extensive crop losses.