HAIL THE MAINTAINERS

Hail The Maintainers, 12”x24”, acrylic & tillandsia on canvas
on display at Rhizome DC from 2024.12.08 to 2025.01.04

Named after an essay by Andrew Russell and Lee Vinsel, I painted “Hail the Maintainers” to explore a timeline where cultivating community and maintaining structures of nourishment take priority over technological novelty. The painting is a snapshot of the “good side” of mobile technology—preserving memories and extending human connection—without care for the consumerism that demands you always have the latest thing. As a tech worker, even one within the environmental field, I sometimes find myself isolated from the physical world and painted this to remind myself of the solarpunk potential of science and software.

Viewers are invited to participate in this piece’s “maintenance” by giving the tillandsia plants a generous mist three times per week. If the log indicates that they haven’t been misted in the past few days, please do so and note today’s date in the log!