“Every fallen tree echoes. Every silenced species speaks. What will you hear?”
Under the Canopy is an immersive, multi-sensory, walk-through experience that highlights the impact and urgency of climate change. As an artistic interpretation of a tropical rainforest, the installation reflects both the wonderment and uncertainty of the future.
We are all awe of the rich biodiversity found in rainforests around the world, the 100-200 rainforests of which covers 6-8% of the earth’s land surface and which are home to half of the world’s plant and animal species. The largest rainforests are found in South America’s Amazon basin, Central Africa’s Congo River basin and from India to Southeast Asia in the Indomalaya ecozone.
Our story centers on the Amazon rainforest, like all rainforests, this dense biodiverse region and all of its millions of animal species and estimated 40,000 plant species is threatened by deforestation, logging and human activities.
Exhibit Details
Upon entering the exhibit, a towering eight-foot-tall totem greets guests. The totem, the living embodiment of the Mother of the Rainforest was created in the spirit of Curupira, an all-powerful goddess and guardian of all living things, revered by the Tupi-Guarani people of the Brazilian Amazon. With her presence, it is said that she warns us of nature’s peril and demands that we take action−it is up to us to protect her/our sacred home.
To the left, a massive boulder holds its ground, a silent foundation; water endlessly streaming down its face, reflecting the dynamic and symbolic life-giving interplay between permanence and change.
The exhibit then guides visitors through the four distinct layers of a tropical rainforest: the Forest Floor, Understory, Canopy, and Emergent Layer. With the Canopy portion teeming with the most concentrated of animal activity.
In the exhibit’s canopy section, four monumental, Kapok-inspired trees stretch their branches towards one another, a poignant gesture of support. This deliberate act of reaching out is a metaphor for the urgent need to protect each other from impending harm. The leaves on each tree are hand-formed from copper, a choice made for its unique ability to oxidize into a living green patina, perfectly emulating a leaf. Yet, the material holds a deeper, ironic meaning−copper, a precious metal known for its healing properties, is one of the top precious metals often mined to the detriment of the very rainforests it now represents.
The total count of copper leaves stand as a quiet, permanent record of a changing number−representing the monthly loss of species in the world’s rainforests.
Upon exiting the Canopy, the focus dramatically shifts with the uppermost Emergent Layer now transformed into a cautionary tale and brought back down to the floor level, using the visual and emotional power of the rainforest to highlight the devastating effects of industrial agriculture and deforestation.
Canopy Soundscape
The ambient sounds that guests hear as they experience Under the Canopy are comprised of more than 30 animals that make the Amazon rainforest their home. Vocalizations from animals, from the whistles and calls from bird species, to the chirps and trills of frogs, the stridulation of leaf cutter ants, and the alarm calls and rhythmic songs of indri lemurs.
Among the rainforest animals you will hear are:
- Capuchn bird
- Rock Ptarmigan
- Peruvian Tinamou
- Yellow-knobbed curassow
- Little Tinamou
- Montezuma oropendola
- Kauaʻi ʻōʻō
- White-throaded rail
- Indri lemur
- Long-tailed manakin
- Spix macaw
- Ruddy kingfisher
- White’s ground thrush
- Whistling green pigeon
- Grey-cowled wood rail
- Amazonian antpitta
- Scrub nightjar
- Thrush-like antpitta
- Lineated woodpecker
- Red-backed poison dart frog
- Otton frog
- Coffin-headed cricket
- Ornate rice frog
- Amami green tree frog
- Hourglass tree frog
- Tago’s brown frog
- Common tink frog
- Pickerel frog
- Leopard frog
- Leaf cutter ants
- Gray tree frog
- Gopher frog
- Golden poison frog
Under the Canopy
Artist and Lead Creator – Henry Jackson
Design, Fabrication and Installation Team:
Alan Omar Soto, David Magnusson, Flavio Torrez, Andrés Canas (Costa Rica) and Carlos Rojas Jara, Monte Azul Center for the Arts (Costa Rica)
Soundscape Composer – Andrew Roth, Roth Audio Design
Donors – Bernard Osher Foundation, Gail Secchia, Crankstart, Harmony Farm Supply & Nursery, Douglas & Sturgess