Artist Sofia Gonzalez brings her new exhibition Becoming Home the Museum! Running June-September 2025.

About Becoming Home

Inspired by the parasitic, yet symbiotic relationship between oak apple wasps and oak trees, Invasive Attempts consider potential reciprocal relationships with and within landscape.

Gall wasps rely on oak trees, their host plant, for survival. By inducing galls on the branches of oak trees, gall wasps lay eggs and support growth through early stages of life. While the gall wasp uses the oak tree for its own gain, it is believed that very little harm occurs to the tree. What is left after the wasps have matured and taken flight are oak galls: round, porous balls that dry and fall to the ground after the wasps no longer need them.

I collect fallen oak galls to use as a natural dye source, as well as a form for inspiration. Oak galls are both native to our landscape and a result of a parasitic reaction. Using silk dyed by neighboring plants, both local and invasive, I repeatedly wrap oak galls. Wrapping becomes a ritualistic act that quells anxiety while suffocating the gall in a protective hug.