The “More Than” Garden: Audio Installation and Sun Print Making

On Earth Day 2021, members of The Willow joined Dr. Jen McClanaghan and the students of her ENG-224 course in front of O’Hare to make cyanotype sun prints. A montage of video clips and student-recorded personal essays called “More Than” played on a projector beneath the archways. These essays were inspired by a story about Ahmaud Arbery in which the the writer said that Arbery was more than a viral video, more than a hashtag, that he loved football and his mother’s chocolate fudge cake and adored his nephews.

The Salve Regina community came together to honor these stories, each other, and the need to acknowledge that social and environmental justice are inextricably bound. The sun prints are on display as part of a series of community prayer flags. This project was sponsored by the McAuley Institute for Mercy Education’s interdisciplinary faculty collaborative focused on the critical concern of earth.