This mixed media collage is part of a collection completed in 2023 meant to inspire a recognition of ourselves in the natural world.  So often we visit nature when it is convenient for us and then go back to living as if we are separate from it. As an ecologist, I know we are nature.  It is us.  There is no separation.  What we do to the natural world we do to ourselves. And what holds true for the natural world, holds true for us as well.  This piece depicts children on swings, soaring among birds. Don’t we all look at birds and envy their wings?  The quote in this collage reads, “A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because her trust is not in the branch, but in her own wings.” I hope this reminds us that we are not so different from the birds we envy.  We have inside us the power to fly in our own ways.