Growing up in Jamaica, Ebony G. Patterson (b. 1981) saw turkey vultures everywhere. “We call them John Crows,” the artist, known for her exuberant and unsettling works across multiple mediums, told Artnet News.
Now, she’s installed a flock of 400 larger-than-life sculptures of the scavenging birds on the grounds of the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), the centerpiece of her recently unveiled exhibition, “…things come to thrive…in the shedding…in the molting…” Although the NYBG has presented such artists as Yayoi Kusama, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Dale Chihuly as part of its seasonal arts programming, Patterson’s site-specific exhibition is actually the culmination of a yearlong immersive residency at the Bronx institution—the first ever granted to an artist.
