Artist Lisa Waud brings the outdoors indoors in ‘Petrichor’ botanical art installation
The exhibit runs this weekend inside Detroit’s historic Boyer Campbell factory in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood
Artist Lisa Waud poses on the grass set inside the Boyer Campbell Building in Detroit for her Petrichor botanical art installation on May 30, 2024.
Detroit botanical artist Lisa Waud is back with her latest project focused on bringing the outdoors indoors in stunning, surreal fashion.
“Petrichor” is the scent of rain hitting dry earth, and it’s the name of Waud’s new installation. The sensory-heavy experience brings that smell and sensation with green, lush grass taking over the 16,000 square foot interior ground floor of Detroit’s historic Boyer Campbell factory at 6532 Saint Antoine in the Milwaukee Junction neighborhood.
From now until Sunday, patrons will be invited to play, lay and explore every corner of Waud’s installation.
Tickets and additional information for “Petrichor” can be found at lisawaud.com.
Waud says the project was more than five years in the making. When it ends, the materials used will be repurposed and donated to local urban farms, like the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund.
“There is something about the work of bringing plants into unexpected spaces that brings me such joy when I can witness it affecting other people,” said Waud.
The concept follows in the footsteps of Waud’s 2015 installation “Flower House,” which filled an abandoned Detroit house with flowers in a similar fashion and created a visual splash around the globe.
In 2021, Waud took part in a residency in Port Austin focused on bringing arts tourism to the tip of Michigan’s thumb. That project was titled “Party Store,” a stunning conversion of a former party store into an immersive botanical installation with locally sourced, fresh-cut flowers — “shelves covered, coolers stuffed, counters coated with a floral veneer,” Waud said.
Related: Detroit artist Lisa Waud brings immersive floral installation to Port Austin
Check out photos from our media preview of “Petrichor” in the gallery below.
