I Worried

Inspired by the poem by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver, “I Worried” is a series of modified street signs that replace typical regulatory language with lines of Oliver’s poem about anxiety, vulnerability, and evolution.

Attaching electrodes to leaves and human skin, I recorded the music made by local plants, as well as by my body and the bodies of friends and family as we meditated on different states of being – worry, love, connection. This music was combined with nature recordings (wind, birds, water, frogs) to make original compositions. As viewers pass by, a solar-powered sound device vibrates the thin aluminum, and select signs act as speakers – ‘singing’ each unique song.

‘I Worried’ by Mary Oliver

“I worried a lot.

Will the garden grow,

will the rivers

flow in the right direction,

will the earth turn

as it was taught,

and if not how shall

I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, can I do better?

I saw that worrying had come to nothing.

And gave it up.

and went out into the morning,

and sang.”

More info: mollyvdierks.com

Mary Oliver ‘I Worried’ Poem Public Installation- Interactive Sound and Sign Walk

Mary Oliver ‘I Worried’ Poem Public Installation

Mary Oliver ‘I Worried’ Poem Public Installation

Mary Oliver ‘I Worried’ Poem Public Installation

How Shall I Correct It? yield sign – Mary Oliver ‘I Worried’ Poem Public Installation

Mary Oliver ‘I Worried’ Poem Public Installation

Mary Oliver ‘I Worried’ Poem Public Installation

Mary Oliver ‘I Worried’ Poem Public Installation

Mary Oliver ‘I Worried’ Poem Public Installation

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