Multidisciplinary artist Dario Mohr inaugurates the newly renovated Glyndor Terrace Garden with QuadroPod: Seeds of Kenya, a site-specific monument to the 42 ethnic groups of Kenya. Working across painting, sculpture, installation, digital art and video, he creates sacred structures that draw from his personal ancestry and our cultural zeitgeist to honor the African Diaspora. A first-generation American of Grenadian, West African and Italian heritage, Mohr’s work references a burgeoning reclamation of the spiritual practices of Africa that have been obscured by legacies of colonialism and slavery.

QuadroPod: Seeds of Kenya exudes an otherworldly presence, as though it has descended from the sky and is poised to take root. Composed of metal, fabric and paint, the sculpture incorporates replicas of conjoined Acacia seed pods that meet to form a double helix-symbolizing the structure of DNA. The Indigenous Maasai and Kikuyu are represented by seeds in the ceiling of the sculpture and a pot brandishing the flag of Kenya depicts a partially planted seed. The ladder, double helix, and Acacia tree-recurring motifs in Mohr’s work-are united here, linking earth and sky, symbolizing life, and carrying genetic heritage into the future.

Mohr’s monument draws inspiration from his 2023 residency at Tafaria Castle in Kenya, where he created Ladder of Acacia and visits to his ancestral homelands.

Although Kenya is not directly part of his heritage, he sought to visit the region that many anthropologists consider to be the birthplace of early humanity, to conduct research and develop work. On September 15, as part of Mohr’s Meet the Artist program, visitors are invited to Happy Planting Day, a ceremony that includes drumming and dedicating messages to deceased African ancestors on greeting cards with African daisy seeds. Cards brought home from Kenya will be planted beneath QuadroPod: Seeds of Kenya, and the messages collected at Wave Hill will be planted as part of his next public sculpture in the series, continuing a cycle of cross-cultural exchange and proliferation.