Kari Englehardt

Statement: ORIGINS and INTERSECTIONS

Native plants continue to be my muse with their strength, beauty, unwavering sense of place and ability to cyclically mark time. Previously, I viewed native plants as unchanging in an ever-changing world. In this, I have been mistaken. They, like all species, evolve. Native plants adapt and migrate based on a set of circumstances. Their movement through the landscape is increasingly rendered impassable by human influence.

This body of work focuses on the intersection between specific native plants that freely grow on either side of the Texas-Mexico border and the possible barriers to their evolutionary success. Their presence in the region is based on a complex relationship to the environment where they form a biological community irrespective of political borders and nation states. When considered thru a longer time horizon, they are, like us, temporary residents.