Angels & Ancestors V (Crystal)

Wischer fills her work with dichotomies: the natural vs. urban, the physical vs. the imaginary, and the sensual vs. austere. Striving to link the human-made with natural elements, her subject matter, and sculptural forms are taken from nature while her materials are explicitly artificial. Here she creates two mangrove trees and encapsulates them in tens of thousands of crystals. By doing so, she calls attention to the tree that literally holds together the Florida shoreline and protects this vital piece of nature by encapsulating such sturdy materials.