10 inches X 12 feet

This installation is a tribute to Nobel Peace prize recipient Wangari Maathai, biologist, women’s rights activist, environmentalist, and founder of The Greenbelt Movement in Kenya. Her dedication to environmental restoration by initiating the planting of over 30 million trees by African women helps stave off the continual desertification of deforested lands. Her mission not only protects resources, it limits political conflict over dwindling resources, a courageous effort for peace through political turmoil in Kenya. Maathai likes to reiterate the Kenyan motto, “Harambee” which means, “let’s pull together”.

This fabric Green Belt was wrapped around the trunk of a 100 year-old oak tree, at chest height (where tree caliper is measured) during the 2005 Queen Anne Treewalk (sponsored by Cambium Arts Resources), in Kinnear Park, Seattle. Images of Kenyan women planting trees are appliquéd onto the fabrics with glass bead embellishments. Appliquéd plants and birds of Kenya help to define the environmental context of the planters, and quotes from Dr. Maathai’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech are embroidered onto the piece. Bits of mirrors seeded into the design are meant to reflect the relevance of Maathai’s vision in our own efforts to heal the earth.