In ‘Funeral for a Tree,’ Steve Parker Etches Bird Song into Playable Oak Records

When a 65-year-old tree succumbed to a fungus known as oak wilt, Steve Parker wanted to pay tribute. The wooded habitat had previously loomed above Parker’s front yard and provided refuge to migratory birds. Rather than turn its limbs and trunk into mulch, though, Parker did as he often does with a material that’s no longer primed for its original purpose: he created a sound sculpture.

Recently on view at Ivester Contemporary in Austin, “Funeral for a Tree” is a sprawling and poetic ode to the oak. Parker cut slices from the trunk that he then carved like vinyl, encoding bird song into the grain. When placed on a Victrola-style turntable, the records play the avian soundscapes.

To accompany these dirges, Parker also constructed a suspended brass and copper sculpture with tubing that splays like roots, some of which display blue-bag ventilators at their tips. These medical devices appear alongside CPAP machines in another installation of bark-clad limbs and vintage instruments known as shengs sourced from a Taipei flea market.

Emphasizing breath and the rhythmic pulse of life, these additions also reference the artist’s late father. “The project emerged from Parker’s recognition that his grief for the tree echoed the loss of his father to cancer—both slow, inevitable declines where care could not prevent loss,” a statement says.

Watch “Funeral for a Tree” in the video above, and find more from the artist on Instagram.