2019

美国购物中心，布卢明顿，明尼苏达州

啊！那是蝴蝶的奇迹！温柔，美，脆弱。

我们钦佩蝴蝶的这些品质，却几乎没有意识到我们的生存是依赖它们的。我们可能因为它们的美丽和优雅而爱它们——甚至可能因为它们的坚韧和勇敢而爱它们，尽管它们很脆弱——却没有意识到它们可能是我们整个世界赖以存在的自然基础……就像蚂蚁和蜜蜂。我们依靠传粉者，如蝴蝶，为我们带来植物世界中一些最珍贵的果实。没有传粉者，自然秩序就会崩溃！

这个装置是对蝴蝶奇妙美丽的庆祝！这也是一声号角，让我们清醒过来，明白我们必须努力保护我们当中最脆弱的人。我们保护这些脆弱、优雅和美丽的意愿和能力——为温柔和脆弱留出空间——将是衡量我们是否值得在创造中继续扮演(和光荣的)角色的标准。它将决定我们作为一个物种的生存。

我们与数百名合作创作这个装置的人一起，把我们社会中被认为是“废物”的东西变成了一件美丽的东西。每只蝴蝶都是手工制作的，经过数百名助手的手工制作。我们一起做的！我们的碳足迹保持在最低限度！当然，我们必须特别感谢几十名敬业的工作人员，他们非常相信这件艺术品和它所颂扬的自然奇观，为它奉献了许多宝贵的时间和辛勤的、经常是重复的手工劳动。更不用说一路走来要解决的问题了。谢谢大家！

我们已经尽可能多地对原材料进行了升级改造。我们创造了一个迷人的奇迹，向大自然致敬！现在，让我们走出去，为保护最脆弱、最温柔、最美丽的东西而努力吧！

2019

Mall of America, Bloomington, MN

Ah！ The Wonder That is the Butterfly！ Gentleness. Beauty. Fragility.

We admire butterflies for these qualities, hardly understanding that we depend upon them for our very existence. We may love them for their beauty and grace — and perhaps even for their tenacity and bravery, in spite of their fragility — not realizing that they may be the natural foundation upon which our entire world stands...like ants and bees. We depend upon pollinators, such as butterflies, to bear us some of the most precious fruits of the plant world. Remove the pollinators and the natural order collapses！

This installation is a celebration of the marvelous beauty of butterflies！ It is also a clarion call for us to wake up and understand that we must endeavor to protect the most vulnerable among us. Our willingness and ability to protect such fragility and grace and beauty — to make a space for gentleness and vulnerability — will be the measure of our worthiness to play a continuing (and honorable) role in creation. It will determine our survival as a species.

We, along with the hundreds who have collaborated to create this installation, have taken what is considered “waste” in our society and made a thing of beauty. Each of these butterflies was individually hand-crafted, passing through the hands of hundreds of helpers. We did this together！ And our carbon footprint was kept at a minimum！ Of course, special thanks must go out to a dedicated crew of dozens, who believed enough in this art-piece and in the natural wonders it celebrates, to lend many hours of their precious time and painstaking, often repetitive, hand-work that it required. Not to mention all of the problem-solving along the way. Thank you ALL！

We have up-cycled as much of our raw materials as possible. We have made an engaging thing of wonder and homage to nature！ Now, let us go forth and do the hard work of protecting what is most fragile, gentle and beautiful！