on 5.972×10^24 kg (call/response)
(5.972×10^24 kg is the mass of Earth)

on 5.972×10^24 kg (call/response) is an installation of projections comprising the following works: (see below set up for more info on each work).
It works in a variety of room sizes.


Call/Response: Órbitas 2003/2023
projected on a wall before entering the room.

                                                                                                installation west wall: Órbitas, Day One (2011)           4,383...(2021) the same site, 10 years later.
                                                                                                                                                                                       east wall, or separate space depending on gallery
                                                                                                                                                                                 (This video provides the installlation's diegetic sound)



south wall: Fauna<(2016-21)


Details



Call/Response: Órbitas 2003/2023

On the left of the dyptich Call/Response: Órbitas 2003/2023, the image shows the site of Órbitas was clearcut in the ~70's, and this satelite image is from in 2004, seven years before Fiona
aquired the land in 2011. It shows slow and uncharacteristic flora having had it's topsoil washed away during many rainy seasons.
On the right hand side, the same site is pictured from 2023 after a decade of careful soil restoration and observance of indigenous flora by the artist.


on the west wall, You can see the 'before', showing the first day Fiona set foot on the land in 2011, just before she aquired it. It was inundated with invasive Giant Thatching Grass or Jaragua (Hyparrhenia rufa).


Giant Thatching Grass or Jaragua (Hyparrhenia rufa) is native to tropical and subtropical Africa. With some help, Fiona hand pulled all of the thatch grass (more than 1/2 an acre) that plagued the land and choked out indigenous flora and fauna. Thanks to bird and reptile droppings, soil rehabilitation, and after years of weeding the copious sprouting thatch grass and encouraging native species, myriad plants slowly began to fill in the site, and the area was transformed into a verdent, diverse habitat. the same area is seen in the video 4,383... a detail...in 2021 and in Fauna (see below).


4,383...(2021)

4,383 is number of days between Fiona first setting foot on the land and the day Fiona had to leave her home (due to mold infected lungs), leaving Orbitas to new stewards.
They continue to protect and enhance habitat for the diverse species that returned. Fiona is building an archive of the insects, reptiles, birds and mammals identified at Órbitas.
On the south wall is Fauna
(it is positioned on the south wall so that when you walk in through a shore light tunnel, it is not immediatley seen).



Fauna(excerpt)
(2016-21) Fauna is a video compilation of the flora and fauna, mostly insects, that re-populated Orbitas over the 11 year period that Bowie worked on restoration of the once-clear cut site. (you can see and read more about the project here: The Flats, here: Plano Verde and here Orbitas) Fauna
(2016-21)

Call/Response illustrates how quickly nature can bounce back when nutured and left to recover.
≈ These works are atypically in rectalinear format, to suit the content (unusual for Bowie's installations). You can read details of the four works comprising this installation by clicking on each of the images above, but in brief, Call/Response shows the site of Orbitas before Fiona aquired the land. on the left. On the right hand side, the same site is pictured from 2023.
Fiona hand pulled (with some help) all of the thatch grass that plagued the land and choked out indigenous flora and fauna. After years of work, pulling sprouting thatch grasses and encouraging native species that slowly began to grow (thanks to bird and reptile droppings, and soil rehabilitation), the area was transformed into a verdent, diverse habitat. You can see the before and after of the same area of the site to your left. On the left hand side, shows the first day Fiona set foot on the land. The right hand side 4,383... shows the same area in 2021.
Both and Response(2023),illustrates how quickly nature can bounce back when nutured and left on its own to recover.
(1+)Response: Orbitas is Bowie's record of her own year terra rehabilitation she undertook by collaborating with other organisms (from 2011-2022)
of her Órbitas project in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.
Fauna is a video compilation of the flora and fauna, mostly insects, that re-populated Orbitas over the 11 year period that Bowie worked on restoration of the once-clear cut site. (you can see and read more about the project here: The Flats, here: Plano Verde and here Orbitas)







© all rights reserved/copyright fiona bowie 2022-2025
All images, sound and text are the exclusive copyright of the artist and may not be used or duplicated without the expressed permission of the artist.
This artwork was created variously in Costa Rica and in K'emk'emeláy̓ (colonially known as Vancouver BC.), situated on the stolen, unceded, ancestral and current territories
of the xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam), Sḵw̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and sə̓lil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. With respect and acknowledgement
of their aeons-long nationhood, cultures, knowledge, languages and all relations, we support ongoing actions and initiatives here and in the unceded Wet'suwet'en territories.