Maya Lin’s “Ghost Forest” Evokes Climate-Related Loss

Maya Lin’s “Ghost Forest” at the Madison Square Park Conservancy
Credit: madisonsquarepark.org

Artist Maya Lin is known for her environmental installations and is widely recognized for her Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Now, she has created a haunting new exhibit: “Ghost Forest” at Madison Square Park Conservancy  in New York. Forty-nine white Atlantic cedar trees are spaced evenly apart; their 40-foot presence symbolizing the towering devastation wrought by climate change. Ghost forests have been appearing along the East Coast as well as in Louisiana, Mississippi and other states along the Gulf Coast.

Credit: madisonsquarepark.org

The term “ghost forest” refers to formerly rich woodlands that have died, often due to rising seawater (other reasons include forest fires and insect infestations, also influenced by extreme weather events). As part of the exhibit, an audio tour highlights the sounds of animal species formerly native to Manhattan, including the gray fox, cougar, American black bear and gray wolf. The trees featured in the exhibit were slated to be cleared from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey in an effort to reinvigorate the ecosystem there. Now, their ghostly presence stands as a stark reminder of a common form of disenfranchised grief: climate grief.

Visitors wander through the “Ghost Forest” at Madison Square Park Conservancy
Credit: madisonsquarepark.org

Lin, an Ohio native as well as an artist, architect and memorialist, agreed to the outdoor commission based on her study of ghost forests across the globe. The project was supported by her husband, Daniel Wolf, whose unexpected death in early 2021 inspired her to dedicate the work to his memory. Now, it serves to commemorate the death of her husband as well as the loss of an array of plant and animal species.

“In southwestern Colorado, where my family and I live in the summer, these forests – killed off by beetles – are all around us,” Lin wrote in her artist’s statement. “I knew I wanted to create something that would be intimately related to the park itself, the trees, and the state of the Earth.”

Maya Lin’s “Ghost Forest”
Credit: madisonsquarepark.org

The result is a stunning, if haunting, view of the impact we humans have had on our planet – from the ground up. Lin’s “Ghost Forest” is on display until November 14th at Madison Square Park Conservancy. You can also view photos or listen to the audio tour on the conservancy’s website.