Botanical Preserve

Commissioned: 2023 - 5 year project
Medium: Gold leaf
Dimensions: 80ft. X 25ft.

Commissioned by the City of West Palm Beach, Florida Artlife WPB

City of West Palm Beach Public Art Collection

BOTANICAL PRESERVE

Botanical Preserve is an 80-foot gilded mural where native Florida flora intertwine with plants from across the globe—some flourishing, others endangered or extinct—brought together in a single imagined ecosystem. Root systems, fungi, and mycelial webs, usually hidden underground, are uncovered and emphasized, revealing the interdependence and reciprocity that sustain life.

Hand-applied entirely in gold leaf, the mural slowly oxidizes over time, changing color as it ages and recording its encounter with the surrounding environment—mimicking natural decay. The botanical forms glow, as if painted with the sun—drawn in light itself. Their luminous surfaces echo photosynthesis, rendering them as silhouettes of light, energy bodies animated by the sun. Reflecting the shifting sky, the mural gleams at dawn, glistens at midday, and softly shimmers ember-orange at sunset, tracing the cycles of the day.

Its monumental scale and use of a historically precious material amplify the urgency of conservation, asking: Must nature be gilded for its preservation?

A nearby identification sign classifies each plant and fungus by its status, transforming the mural into both artwork and record of interconnection.