Upcoming Exhibition

Maya Lin: Ghost Forest

May 10 – November 14, 2021

Upcoming Exhibition

Maya Lin: Ghost Forest

May 10 – November 14, 2021

Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest, a towering stand of fifty haunting Atlantic white cedar trees, is a newly-commissioned public art work. Lin brings her vision as an artist and her agency as an environmental activist to this project, a memory of germination, vegetation, and abundance and a harsh symbol of the devastation of climate change. The height of each tree, around forty feet, overwhelms human scale and stands as a metaphor of the outsized impact of a looming environmental calamity.

In nature, a ghost forest is the evidence of a dead woodland that was once vibrant. Atlantic white cedar populations on the East Coast are endangered by past forestry practices and threats from climate change, including extreme weather events that yield salt water intrusion, wind events, and fire. The trees in Ghost Forest were all slated to be cleared as part of regeneration efforts in the fragile ecosystem of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

The magnitude of planetary vulnerability is a significant subject in Lin’s practice through sculpture, installation, and her web-based resource, What Is Missing?. Now two generations removed from the Earthwork artists of the 1960s and 1970s, Lin is taking on rural and urban outdoor space with a focus on geology and the fragility of the earth’s ecosystem.

About the artist
Maya Lin (American, b. 1959) was born in Athens, Ohio, and lives and works in New York and Colorado. She earned BA and MA degrees in architecture from Yale University (1981,1986).
She is internationally recognized for a practice that encompasses large-scale environmental installations, architectural projects, and memorials, as well as intimate studio artworks. Lin received many prestigious awards, including Rome Prize (1999), Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2000), National Medal of Arts (2009), and Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016). Her website, What Is Missing?, brings awareness to the climate crisis and decreasing biodiversity. The artist’s works are included in the collections of Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Des Moines Art Center; Indianapolis Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY; and The Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden.
Read more about the artist
About the artist
Maya Lin (American, b. 1959) was born in Athens, Ohio, and lives and works in New York and Colorado. She earned BA and MA degrees in architecture from Yale University (1981,1986).
She is internationally recognized for a practice that encompasses large-scale environmental installations, architectural projects, and memorials, as well as intimate studio artworks. Lin received many prestigious awards, including Rome Prize (1999), Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2000), National Medal of Arts (2009), and Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016). Her website, What Is Missing?, brings awareness to the climate crisis and decreasing biodiversity. The artist’s works are included in the collections of Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Des Moines Art Center; Indianapolis Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY; and The Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden.
Read more about the artist

Maya Lin’s Ghost Forest, a towering stand of fifty haunting Atlantic white cedar trees, is a newly-commissioned public art work. Lin brings her vision as an artist and her agency as an environmental activist to this project, a memory of germination, vegetation, and abundance and a harsh symbol of the devastation of climate change. The height of each tree, around forty feet, overwhelms human scale and stands as a metaphor of the outsized impact of a looming environmental calamity.

In nature, a ghost forest is the evidence of a dead woodland that was once vibrant. Atlantic white cedar populations on the East Coast are endangered by past forestry practices and threats from climate change, including extreme weather events that yield salt water intrusion, wind events, and fire. The trees in Ghost Forest were all slated to be cleared as part of regeneration efforts in the fragile ecosystem of the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

The magnitude of planetary vulnerability is a significant subject in Lin’s practice through sculpture, installation, and her web-based resource, What Is Missing?. Now two generations removed from the Earthwork artists of the 1960s and 1970s, Lin is taking on rural and urban outdoor space with a focus on geology and the fragility of the earth’s ecosystem.

About the artist
Maya Lin (American, b. 1959) was born in Athens, Ohio, and lives and works in New York and Colorado. She earned BA and MA degrees in architecture from Yale University (1981,1986).
She is internationally recognized for a practice that encompasses large-scale environmental installations, architectural projects, and memorials, as well as intimate studio artworks. Lin received many prestigious awards, including Rome Prize (1999), Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2000), National Medal of Arts (2009), and Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016). Her website, What Is Missing?, brings awareness to the climate crisis and decreasing biodiversity. The artist’s works are included in the collections of Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Des Moines Art Center; Indianapolis Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY; and The Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden.
Read more about the artist
Press Release
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Download PDF
About the artist
Maya Lin (American, b. 1959) was born in Athens, Ohio, and lives and works in New York and Colorado. She earned BA and MA degrees in architecture from Yale University (1981,1986).
She is internationally recognized for a practice that encompasses large-scale environmental installations, architectural projects, and memorials, as well as intimate studio artworks. Lin received many prestigious awards, including Rome Prize (1999), Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement (2000), National Medal of Arts (2009), and Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016). Her website, What Is Missing?, brings awareness to the climate crisis and decreasing biodiversity. The artist’s works are included in the collections of Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Des Moines Art Center; Indianapolis Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY; and The Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden.
Read more about the artist

Image gallery

Exhibition Support

Ghost Forest is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Leadership support for this exhibition is generously provided by The Ruth Stanton Foundation. Major support for the exhibition is generously provided by Agnes Gund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder Foundation, and Pace Gallery. Substantial support is provided by the Ford Foundation, the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, James Howell Foundation, The Scintilla Foundation, Marders, and the Henry Moore Foundation. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology kindly provided material, expertise, and editing support for the soundscape. Madison Square Park Conservancy acknowledges the generous contributions of Colin McLaughlin, Advanced Forestry Solutions and Bob Williams, Pine Creek Forestry.

Ghost Forest is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Major support for the art program is provided by Sasha C. Bass, Bunny and Charles Burson, Toby Devan Lewis, Ronald A. Pizzuti, Thornton Tomasetti, Tiffany & Co., Anonymous, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. Substantial support is provided by Charina Endowment Fund, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, The Sol Lewitt Fund for Artist Work, Madison Square Park Conservancy Art Council, Audrey and Danny Meyer, and The Rudin Family. Additional support is provided by 400 Park Avenue South, The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston, Irving Harris Foundation, Lenore G. Tawney Foundation, and Fern and Lenard Tessler.

Madison Square Park Conservancy is a public/private partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Maya Lin: Ghost Forest

Maya Lin: Ghost Forest

Maya Lin: Ghost Forest

Exhibition Support

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