Untitled Utility Box

At certain points in Rhode Island waterways during spring and early summer, you may see people staring intently at the water. While it may look like they are mesmerized by the water’s surface, chances are they are counting alewife (Alosa psuedoharengus). These fish counting stations are a part of RIDEM’s effort to track alewife populations and are manned by volunteers conducting 10-minute fish counting surveys. White backboards on the riverbed starkly contrast the alewife swimming by and facilitate easier visible counting.

As an artist working with environmental research and conservation efforts, I was inspired by this volunteer practice and struck by the power of 10 minutes of observation. I wanted to design a box that similarly invites viewers to close looking. From a distance, the box appears to be a mundane blue-green electrical box; however, as the viewer draws nearer, the shimmery forms of alewife become visible. Especially against the white stripe, the fish jump into focus, and in the vast green elsewhere, their large eyes stare back. 

Moving around the box, the concentration of fish forms ebbs and flows. One side represents a time when the robust alewife population made the river “run silver” during spawning. The other side presents a dangerous future of disappearing alewife. The box creates a loop, suggesting that the decline of alewife populations might be turned around if we take the time to slow down, look closer, and give our attention to things we might otherwise overlook.