Ancestral Ecologies - Brooklyn Botanic Garden
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Ancestral Ecologies
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Ancestral Ecologies

Exhibits

May 23–October 25, 2026

Ancestral Ecologies comprises four multisensory installations that consider how African diasporic and Latinx worldviews can inform contemporary ecological knowledge and stewardship.

Created by Brooklyn-based artist Olalekan Jeyifous and the environmental art and architecture practice AD—WO, the 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows, the exhibition responds to distinct phenomena found in the Garden and its communities and explores animism, an indigenous worldview that recognizes the vitality of all living beings and offers contrast to human-centered frameworks. Each work invites visitors to imagine reciprocation and kinship with nature.

Visit BBG’s Conservatory Gallery to learn more about the research and development behind the project.

A map shows areas of the Garden, highlighting an exhibit in the Conservatory Gallery and sculptures located in the Native Flora and Woodland Gardens

Serpentine Specter

Kiln-fired glass, steel frame, waxed thread, and leather
Native Flora Garden

A tall, colorful tower made of multicolored panels standing in a green field surrounded by trees.
Serpentine Specter is part of the Garden’s Ancestral Ecologies exhibit by the 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows.
Close-up image of a hand pointing at colorful glass panels hanging from a metal sculpture.
David Zhang installs a component of Serpentine Specter, part of the Ancestral Ecologies exhibit at BBG.
Two people pour soil into a wheelbarrow.
The 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows prepare to install the foundation of Serpentine Specter.
Three people hang colorful glass rectangles on the metal frame of a sculpture.
2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows Olalekan Jeyifous (left), David Zhang (center), and Emanuel Admassu (right) install kiln-fired glass panels on Serpentine Specter.
A person reaches toward colorful glass rectangles sitting beside a metal sculpture.
David Zhang inspects kiln-fired glass tiles before they are installed on Serpentine Specter.

Serpentine Specter is inspired by the Native Flora Garden Meadow’s unique local ecologies, modeled after rare serpentine and pine barren landscapes where only especially resilient and specialized plants can thrive. The work highlights how harsh conditions can support diverse forms of life, offering insights for developing climate-resilient adaptation today.

The sculpture connects ancient geologic processes with present-day industrial materials. Blacks, deep greens, and stonelike grays at the base reflect ultramafic igneous rock and mineral-rich soils, rising into lighter greens, smoky blues, amber, and bright yellow-greens inspired by fire-adapted plants, lichen, seeds, and new growth of inhabitants.

Serpentine Specter: Ecological Inquiry
A collage of images of different kinds of rock and plant ecologies and associated color gradients.
Serpentine Specter: Material Studies & Design Iterations
A collage of images of different shapes and materials for a structure based on a color frequency spectrum.
Serpentine Specter: Fabrication & Install
A collage of images of the creation of glass panes with swirled colors and their assembly into a vertical structure.

Earthen Tiles

BBG soil and clay, mineral pigment, and mixed materials
Woodland Garden

A sculpture made up of square tiles sits in a field.
Earthen Tiles is part of the Garden’s Ancestral Ecologies exhibit by the 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows.
Close-up image of squares of textured clay sitting in black wooden trays.
Earthen Tiles is part of the Garden’s Ancestral Ecologies exhibit by the 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows.
Seven people gather in a circle in a service yard.
2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows meet with BBG staff to plan the excavation of soil from the North Service Yard to create Earthen Tiles.
A person uses a propane torch to char thin panels of wood suspended between concrete blocks.
Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellow David Zhang torches wood in the North Service Yard for the base of Earthen Tiles.
Two people kneel over a lattice structure of wooden and metal beams with one person drilling a beam.
David Zhang (left) and Gene Han (right) assemble the base of Earthen Tiles.

Emerging from the landscape as a gently rising grid, Earthen Tiles resembles pixelated layers of earth. Variations in color, texture, and surface treatment reflect different soil conditions, mineral compositions, and earthen building traditions. Using clay, mineral pigments, and soil excavated directly from BBG, the work considers earth as both a building material and a record of cultural knowledge shaped across generations.

The installation will continue to shift over time through weather and seasonal change. Surfaces may crack, fade, darken, or gather organic growth, reflecting ongoing relationships between land, material, and environmental time.

Earthen Tiles: Ecological Inquiry
A collage of images of traditional clay collection and tile construction.
Earthen Tiles: Material Studies & Design Iterations
A collage of images showing different placement and materials for a grid of tiles.
Earthen Tiles: Fabrication & Install
A collage of images of the construction of a grid of wattle and daub tiles.

Animist Capsules

Hypertufa (mix of concrete, sand, and moss slurry), glass and ceramic tile
Woodland Garden

A sculpture that appears to be concrete on the outside with mosaics on the inside stands in a garden bed with mulch and leaves in the background.
Animist Capsules is part of the Garden’s Ancestral Ecologies exhibit by the 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows.
A person standing behind two small outdoor sculptures reaches forward to manipulate one of them
Olalekan Jeyifous grafts moss onto Animist Capsules.
Two sculptures which appear to be clay with moss on them sit in an outdoor woodland space.
Animist Capsules is part of the Garden’s Ancestral Ecologies exhibit by the 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows.
Two people stand outdoors next to a boulder, with one placing a tape measure on the boulder.
Emanuel Admassu and Olalekan Jeyifous scout potential locations around the Garden for Animist Capsules to be installed.
Close-up image of a sculpture with holes in it, with the insides of the holes covered in red mosaics.
Animist Capsules is part of the Garden’s Ancestral Ecologies exhibit by the 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows.

Inspired by nooks and crannies the fellows discovered in BBG’s aging trees and limestone, Animist Capsules are designed to weather over time. The porous Hypertufa material creates conditions for mosses, lichens, and other small living systems to emerge across their surfaces, referencing decomposition as a regenerative force.

Hand-laid glass and ceramic tiles create jewel-like interiors that reflect mosaic traditions of the Caribbean and global diaspora. The surfaces evoke mineral deposits, living systems, and layered relationships between culture, ecology, and renewal embedded within the BBG landscape.

Animist Capsules: Ecological Inquiry
A collage of images of decaying wood and rock and ecological lifecycles
Animist Capsules: Material Studies & Design Iterations
A series of renderings of sculptures with organic lattice-like forms along with geodes.
Animist Capsules: Fabrication & Install
A collage of images of cast clay shapes in organic lattice-like forms with colored tiles on the interior.

Sonic Strands

Cowrie shells, sea beans, recycled glass beads, and mixed materials
Woodland Garden

Long strands of string with diverse arrangements of beads hang from the top of window frames in an open-air structure surrounded by trees and grasses.
Sonic Strands is part of the Garden’s Ancestral Ecologies exhibit by the 2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellows.
Strands of shells and beads hang in the window of an open-air structure.
Sonic Strands
Two people stand in woodland garden
2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment 2026 Fellows Olalekan Jeyifous (left) and Emanuel Admassu (right) examine the Woodland Garden and make plans to install Sonic Strands.
People sit at a table and thread beads onto long strands of string.
2026 Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellow Emanuel Admassu helps visitors bead natural and found materials to make Sonic Strands during Making Brooklyn Bloom.
A person hangs strands of beads from the top of a window in an open-air structure.
Emanuel Admassu works on installing Sonic Strands in the Woodland Garden.

Activated by wind, gravity, and passersby, Sonic Strands filter light and air and shift with wind to create a subtle sonic field that blends with the surrounding animals, plants, and landscape.

The strands are constructed from materials with deep cultural and ecological histories, and were created with participation from BBG visitors who embedded their names, initials, and words or phrases connecting nature and culture. Together, these materials reflect layered histories of exchange, survival, spirituality, and movement across land and water.

Sonic Strands: Ecological Inquiry
A collage of beaded curtains and different kinds of beads like sea beans, cowrie shells, and recycled glass.
Sonic Strands: Material Studies & Design Iterations
A collage of diagrams of hanging branches and beaded strings exhibiting various kinds of motion.
Sonic Strands: Fabrication & Install
A collage of images of people crafting strings of beads and the strands being hung in the windows of a concrete structure.

About the Artists

  • Two men stand outdoors amid autumn trees—one in a black T-shirt and gold chains with arms crossed, the other in a yellow beanie and argyle sweater holding a small black notebook.

    Brooklyn-based artist Olalekan Jeyifous and the environmental art and architecture practice AD—WO collaborated with community members, climate scientists, and BBG’s horticulturists to create their project supported by the Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellowship. Learn More

Credits

Olalekan Jeyifous, Artist

AD—WO, Environmental Thinker Team:

  • Emanuel Admassu, Principal in Charge
  • Jen Wood, Principal
  • David Zhang, Project Lead

Special thanks to:

Lola Ben-Alon (Natural Materials Lab of Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation), material consultant for Earthen Tiles

Hermona Tamrat, P.E. (hgt studio), structural engineering consultant

Bullseye Glass Company, Cain Cain Studio, Gene Han, André Santos, and Leah Liu Yutong, additional fabrication

Support

The Heidi Nitze Art × Environment Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of the Heidi Nitze Foundation.

Image, top of page: Jeremy Weine