In the Fall of 2020, all I wanted was control. I felt like my entire artistic practice was flipped on its head by COVID-19, not unlike how most people felt. I was very satisfied making electronic garments to interact with people and then I was no longer comfortable putting things on other peoples bodies. I was sitting at home more, dwelling on the state of the world. I was surrounded by my houseplants, the houseplants I had moved from Ann Arbor to Chicago to Columbus all in a year. There they were, keeping me company. I had a thought, more of an impulse, maybe even a need, to bloom a sunflower. I got to work, doing research on all the needs of a sunflower: how much light does it need?, what wavelengths for optimal growth?, what was the soil to height ratio?, how deep did the taproot go?, how much water?, do I need to fertilize it?. I grew an 8-foot sunflower, even though it never saw the sun. I raised its cage every day to make way. Although it was stunted and probably not the happiest sunflower, it was mine. I was able to do something that made me happy while everything else felt out of control.

HELIANTHUS

CACTI STIMULATION ORBS

I have always been bad at keeping cacti alive. I am definitely an overwater. So when I placed a sad looking mammillaria I purchased from Home Depot inside a grow light I expected it to just trudge along. I did not even know if was a mammillaria at that point. But two weeks after placing it in a light cage, it bloomed. That is how I identified it. The effectiveness of these cages astonished me. It has grown 6 inches in 2 years. The Aeonium on the the other hand was more miraculous. I could see it growing from its crown and was curious if I was just imagining it. The time-lapse found below was taken over 3 days. The speed of growth, the pulsing of the leaves, all a little miracle under its tiny LED suns.

FICUS ELASTICA

What would a grow-light for a tree look like? Instead of a single overhead bulb would an encasement of light work better? The bottom leaves need some sunshine too. A surround-sound system but with light. During the 2.5 years trapped inside their little light cages these ficuses have grown to be 12 feet tall. Pin straight, thick trunked.