This weekend, a new art installation will open that will be hard to miss. THIRST, from Women and Their Work, comprises two components: a series of 14,000 prayer flags which will form a 2.5 mile loop near Lady Bird Lake, and a 35-foot cedar elm tree that will hover above the lake itself.
The tree will be ghostly white, and will seem to float just above the surface of the lake. Along with the trail of prayer flags, the ghost tree in intended to spark a dialogue about the ongoing Texas drought and the importance of clean drinking water here and worldwide. The tree selected for the art piece is one of the thousands of trees killed by the drought in Texas.
The installation is a team effort; Women and Their Work collaborated with architects Emily Little and Norma Yancey, landscape architect Cassie Bergstrom, and artist Beili Liu, along with dozens of workers and engineers from the city of Austin. The floating tree and the trail of prayer flags will be on display through December 20.
A Large-Scale Public Art Installation
On Lady Bird Lake
September 29 – December 20
