Long Island’s East End has long been a vital fishing and agricultural region, where communities have relied on the land and water for generations. Today, environmental shifts and pressures increasingly threaten these traditions. “Regeneration: Long Island’s History of Ecological Art and Care,” opening at The Parrish Art Museum on February 22, responds to this urgency by showcasing works that emerge from the intersection of ecological art, environmental action, and community collaboration.
The exhibition brings together eleven intergenerational artists with strong ties to Long Island and New York, whose works stem from an active engagement with the environmental challenges that impact the East End and the world today.
“Regeneration” is the first exhibition in PARRISH USA250: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, a year-long program marking the United States’ semiquincentennial in 2026. Responding to the Declaration of Independence’s assertion of “life” as an inalienable right, “Regeneration” explores our responsibility to the various forms of life that sustain us.
“We developed the PARRISH USA250: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness year-long exhibition series to reflect on the nation’s history and founding values, examine the present moment, and imagine new ways of moving forward,” said Dr. Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, Executive Director of the Parrish Art Museum. “’Regeneration’ considers ecology not as an abstract idea, but as a lived experience. We are honored to bring attention to these eleven artists, many of whom live and work in our community, whose practices elevate ideas of interdependence affecting both human and non-human life, reminding us that sustaining life requires attention, responsibility, and collective action.”
“The artists featured in ‘Regeneration’ actively engage with the issues that concern them most,” said Scout Hutchinson, The FLAG Art Foundation Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Parrish. “From rising sea levels, depleted natural habitats, and ocean pollution, they approach these issues with curiosity, hope, and shared responsibility, modeling alternative and restorative ways of engaging with the non-human world. Their work invites us to consider how we might repair and reshape our relationship to other forms of life.”
“I am thrilled to work with an intergenerational group of artists from this region who care deeply about the environment here, recognizing that while these issues are universal, care and action have to be local,” said Corinne Erni, The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator of Art and Education.
A focal point of the exhibition is a newly commissioned work by artist Sara Siestreem, made in collaboration with the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers, an intergenerational collective of Indigenous women who harness the ancestral tradition of seaweed harvesting to address nitrogen pollution in local waters. Drawing on her abstract mark-making and interweaving Shinnecock and Hanis Coos cultural and ecological traditions, Siestreem’s paintings and ceramic sculptures will explore the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers’ project, in which restorative care is inextricably intertwined with grassroots activism and generative growth.
“Regeneration” also brings together other leading and emerging voices in ecological art whose work contributes to the broader conversation of place-based and restorative art practices. Jeremy Dennis will present works from his Sacredness of Hills series, which highlights the impact of land development and residential construction on Shinnecock sacred sites. Artists, including Scott Bluedorn and Cindy Pease Roe, integrate discarded materials into their work. Bluedorn works with reclaimed objects to illustrate the relationship between Long Island’s shifting ecology and the history of East Hampton’s Bonac fishing, farming, and hunting culture, while Roe constructs abstract assemblages from plastic waste and human-made debris collected from local shores.
Other artists engage directly with organic materials and living systems. Michelle Stuart presents work from her “Seed Calendar” drawings, which chart the growth of seeds she collected in Amagansett. Tucker Marder, co-founder of the Folly Tree Arboretum in Springs, combines puppetry, performance, and storytelling to illustrate the varied histories of the trees he tends, fostering a deep sense of environmental responsibility. Mamoun Nukumanu creates living biomorphic sculptures from various plant species that provide habitats to local flora and fauna; three of these works are installed in the Parrish Meadow.
Several works are grounded in scientific and ecological research. Sasha Fishman creates sculptures and installations informed by her research into marine biomaterials, toxicology, and natural alternatives to plastic. Early works by Earth artist Alan Sonfist pair photographs of the region with biological materials collected from sites across the East End. Randi Renate draws on her background in oceanography to create large-scale sculptures such as “Are we psychic coral-polyps?” (2022), which will be installed in the Parrish Meadow as a gathering place for conversation and listening to podcasts on local regenerative water initiatives. Maya Lin presents recycled silver sculptures of three major Eastern Long Island waterways, based on data gathered through scientific mapping tools. Originally created for her 2014 Parrish solo exhibition, “Platform: Maya Lin,” the return of this work underscores how sustainability issues have impacted the region over time.
The exhibit will run through June 14.