‘Signaling Devices’
The ‘Signaling Devices’ -are essentially plant teeter totters acting as a sort of extension of the plant to give it another way to communicate. The plant is calibrated on the simple mechanism to rise when it’s completely dry, signaling that it needs water. I like this size for these purposes but I’d like to see a very large ‘human’ scale version installed inside somewhere like a botanical garden. I’d also like to see these smaller scale so people could have them in their homes to aid in learning how to care for plants.
I thought a lot about the act of care and tending to the land and things that don’t have a voice. Things that maybe communicate in different ways than is standard or familiar. It makes me think of silent needs and silent pains and how hard it can be to self advocate when it’s maybe not the easiest to speak.
Caite Mae Ramos
Caite Mae Ramos is a queer Oglala Lakota tribal member of the Oceti Sakowin Oyate (the Great Sioux Nation or the Nation of the Seven Council Fires).
In 2015 they graduated with high honors and a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA. After graduation Caite spent two years in the woods of the Olympic Peninsula before moving to Northwest Arkansas.
Caite became a Master Gardener of Washington County in 2018 and continues to expand her knowledge of growing plants in alternative ways which directly influences her work.
Caite is currently living and working in Northwest Arkansas working on their MFA in drawing at the University of Arkansas.