A swarm of crystal monarch butterflies inhabits the main staircase, clinging precariously to hovering, disembodied branches in Skowmon Hastanan’s Butterfly Migration. The work recalls observations by pre-Hispanic Mexican civilizations explaining the arrival of the monarch butterfly in their winter habitat at precisely the same time every fall during the corn harvest, and coinciding with the Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) as confirmation that the butterflies are souls of their ancestors returning for an annual visit. By instilling within the materials and techniques of contemporary decor indigenous associations of remembrance and reunion, Hastanan’s Butterfly Migration sustains the past within the present, reconciling geographic, cultural, and economic disparities with nature’s potent and enduring embodiment of spiritual legacy. www.skowmon.com