When we usually think about neighbors, we imagine our human community. In this exhibit, I wanted to expand the concept of neighbor to envelop all the other beings, animals and plants, who form part of the ecosystems we call home. "Our Neighbor" was exhibited in the Spring of 2025 in the Town Hall of Potsdam, NY, (Kanien’kéhaka/Mohawk Territory). This joint solo exhibition was organized and sponsored by the St. Lawrence Art Council, and it comprised 15 pieces. Below, you can see some examples of the exhibited artwork.
My goal with this exhibit was to bring into a human-made municipal building, the furry, feathered, and leafy people of the Raquette River (Ahná:wate in Kanienkéha/Mohawk) watershed. They are all citizens of this Land and Water, and their voices deserve to be heard. Just like the human residents of Potsdam, NY, these other-than-human people are entitled to be represented, their interests respected, and needs met.
Gray Fox
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
The Gray Fox is one of our woodland neighbors. They prefer mature and healthy forests. When the European settlers first came and disturbed the forests of the Raquette River/Ahná:wate watershed, the gray fox retreated. As the trees and forests matured, the gray fox has once again returned to their ancestral home. If the gray fox could speak with human words, they would probably remind us, humans, that we have the responsibility to respect their needs. Gray foxes are doing their part to protect the ecosystems we all share. Humans should do the same.
Snowshoe Hare
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Snowshoe Hares live in the higher elevations of the Adirondack Mountains. During the winter months, their fur becomes white, like the snow that covers the peaks and valleys. Over the last few decades, the snow cover has diminished, and the snowshoe hare has longer periods of time in which their fur color doesn’t match the surrounding environment. This makes them easier victims of predation, thus hurting their population, and the ecosystems that depend on them. If snowshoe hare could talk to us, they would probably remind us of the importance of snow. With warmer winters, and less snow precipitations, people like the snowshoe hare suffer. Our actions have consequences. We, humans, have to be better and more respectful neighbors.
River Otters
Year: 2024
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2024
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
River Otters are one of our playful Raquette River/ Ahná:wate neighbors. As a keystone
species, they are a sign of healthy water and a good indicator of when an ecosystem is thriving. Much like humans, otters are on the top of the riverine ecosystem food chain. River Otters honor their responsibility towards their home by maintaining ecosystem balance. If River Otters could speak with human words, they would ask humans to protect the water that keeps all of us alive. Not only otters and humans benefit from clean water, but also the myriads of living beings who are part of the interconnected tapestry of life.
species, they are a sign of healthy water and a good indicator of when an ecosystem is thriving. Much like humans, otters are on the top of the riverine ecosystem food chain. River Otters honor their responsibility towards their home by maintaining ecosystem balance. If River Otters could speak with human words, they would ask humans to protect the water that keeps all of us alive. Not only otters and humans benefit from clean water, but also the myriads of living beings who are part of the interconnected tapestry of life.
Baby Tufted Titmouse
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Tufted Titmice are diminutive acrobats and prefer lower elevations. They spend their whole lives living a few miles from where they were hatched, which makes them our year-round neighbors. They are known for their “peter, peter, peter,” calls, and for their unique talent of hanging upside down to catch bugs. As they prefer forested habitats with large trees, they would probably ask us, humans, to take care of our forests, especially the large mother trees that hold the ecosystem together.
Ghost Pipes
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Ghost Pipes are some of our shier neighbors. They are a flowering plant that doesn’t
photosynthesize. What does this mean? It means they don’t use the energy of the sun to
produce their own sugars and lipids, like the majority of plants. Instead, they are completely sustained by the community. Mycorrhiza fungi provide ghost pipes with the nutrients they need to survive. These fungi live in symbiosis with 90% of all the plants on Earth. In fact, before plants developed their root system, millions of years ago, they were sustained by their fungi neighbors. Usually, the plants provide the fungi with sugars and lipids, in exchange for nutrients that the fungi gather from the soil. In the case of the ghost pipe, the fungi passes sugars and lipids from the trees to the ghost pipes’ roots.
photosynthesize. What does this mean? It means they don’t use the energy of the sun to
produce their own sugars and lipids, like the majority of plants. Instead, they are completely sustained by the community. Mycorrhiza fungi provide ghost pipes with the nutrients they need to survive. These fungi live in symbiosis with 90% of all the plants on Earth. In fact, before plants developed their root system, millions of years ago, they were sustained by their fungi neighbors. Usually, the plants provide the fungi with sugars and lipids, in exchange for nutrients that the fungi gather from the soil. In the case of the ghost pipe, the fungi passes sugars and lipids from the trees to the ghost pipes’ roots.
Now the question is: what is the Ghost Pipe giving in return? Are they just living parasitically, off the “wood-wide web?” The truth is that we, humans, don’t know. Yet, just like ghost pipes are sustained by their environment, we, humans, are also being provided with the nutrients we need to survive by the ecosystems where we live. While we can’t know what the Ghost Pipe is giving back, we can ask ourselves what can we give back to those who sustain us?
Chipmunk
Year: 2024
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2024
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Chipmunks are forest creators. Much like winged pollinators, they play a crucial role in helping plants reproduce. Plants don’t have legs or wings, but they can rely on chipmunks to spread their seeds. We don’t know if the chipmunks do this on purpose. What we know is that it looks like they are collecting food for the winter. The seeds that they do not eat, however, are left to grow into the trees that sustain generations of chipmunks. Thus, chipmunks and trees have a reciprocal relationship, as they help each other fulfil their life cycles. If chipmunks could speak with human words, they would probably remind us to consider the plants and beings who are allowing us to exist and thrive. Much like the chipmunk, humans can’t survive without our plant neighbors. The question is, what are we giving back to them?
Paper Birch Tree
Year: 2024
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2024
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Paper Birch Trees are the bedrock of the forest. Their white trunks allow them to reflect sunlight. They can thus grow in clearings, where there are no other trees to shade them. They create the environment for other deciduous and conifer trees to find their homes. They are also a food source for many other beings that live in the Raquette River/Ahná:wate watershed. With their twigs and bark, birch trees sustain their neighbors such as: moose, snowshoe hare, beavers and porcupines. In the winter, when food is scarce, white tail deer survive by eating their bark. If birch trees could speak with human words, they might remind us about the importance of stewarding land, water, and the lives of all our neighbors. Much like the birch trees that are the first creators of a forest community, humans can strive to nurture vibrant ecological
Eastern Newt
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor, pen, and ink on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor, pen, and ink on hot pressed cotton paper
Eastern Newts live in both coniferous and deciduous forests. They prefer shallow waters, quiet stretches of streams, swamps or ditches, lakes and ponds that offer submerged vegetation. They also like damp woodland. Eastern newts need moist environments to survive and love mud. If you lift up a log, in a wet forest next to the Raquette River/Ahná:wate, you may very well stumble upon one of these vibrant people.
Newts are amphibians and have porous skin. This makes them particularly vulnerable to
pollution and rapid climate changes. Since they also depend on wetland environments, when these ecosystems are drained, cementified, or fragmented, the eastern newt is left without a home. If eastern newts could talk to us, they would probably remind us that we all depend on wetlands. Without wetlands, we lose many of our neighbors. Water also loses one of its homes. With increased rainfall events, the absence of wetlands raises the risk of flooding.
pollution and rapid climate changes. Since they also depend on wetland environments, when these ecosystems are drained, cementified, or fragmented, the eastern newt is left without a home. If eastern newts could talk to us, they would probably remind us that we all depend on wetlands. Without wetlands, we lose many of our neighbors. Water also loses one of its homes. With increased rainfall events, the absence of wetlands raises the risk of flooding.
Seagull
Year: 2024
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2024
Medium: watercolor and pen on hot pressed cotton paper
Seagulls travel long distances, connecting diverse ecosystems. In the case of the Raquette
River/Ahná:wate, seagulls are a bridge between our local waters and the Atlantic Ocean.
Seagulls are scavengers and would eat just about anything. They play an important role in the ecosystems they steward, cleaning the shorelines and communities they visit. If seagulls could talk to us, they might remind us of the importance of not polluting our homes. Many seagulls end up choking in our plastic, and the pollutants we carelessly discharge. They are not the only beings to suffer when we unresponsibly discard what we no longer need. Uncountable beings die every day, their bellies filled with our plastic.
River/Ahná:wate, seagulls are a bridge between our local waters and the Atlantic Ocean.
Seagulls are scavengers and would eat just about anything. They play an important role in the ecosystems they steward, cleaning the shorelines and communities they visit. If seagulls could talk to us, they might remind us of the importance of not polluting our homes. Many seagulls end up choking in our plastic, and the pollutants we carelessly discharge. They are not the only beings to suffer when we unresponsibly discard what we no longer need. Uncountable beings die every day, their bellies filled with our plastic.
Smooth Green Snake
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor, pen, and ink on hot pressed cotton paper
Year: 2025
Medium: watercolor, pen, and ink on hot pressed cotton paper
Smooth Green Snakes mostly like to live in fields, marshes, riverbanks, and open woods. They love slithering under tall grasses that camouflage their movements. Their favorite foods are insects, which makes them particularly vulnerable to pesticides. Pesticides are one of the main reasons why the smooth green snake population is in decline. Also logging, roads, and highways reduce the snake’s habitat, thus leading to their demise. If smooth green snakes could speak with human words, they would ask us not to poison the beings they eat to survive.