Alien-invasion films of the 1950s established a mindset that extraterrestrials seek to destroy the most vulnerable and overtake planet Earth. Similarly, organizations such as the National Park Service suggest that invasive species have the potential to permanently alter life as we know it.

In this newly commissioned multimedia installation, artist Sunny Leerasanthanah references these perceptions and suspicions and highlights comparable language used in sentiments towards immigrants and refugees in the United States.

In one video work, actors portray National Park Rangers who work with invasive species. An uncomfortable tension emerges as each actor delivers improvised lines based on their real-life experiences arriving and living in the US in combination with concepts of authority over land and bodies in this nation. As satire, the work describes the role that systems of power hold in establishing and perpetuating xenophobia.  

Leerasanthanah’s second video presents a foreboding paranormal landscape featuring macro imagery of nature saturated in multicolored lights. Each setting includes texts from governmental policies, news articles, biologists, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that display reactions or warnings toward invasive species. Removed from their original context, the words present idealized cultural and political values that deny the freedom of both human and nonhuman foreign entities.

The exhibition does not seek to honor or justify the increasing presence of invasive species in the country, nor to devalue governmental agencies in preserving the environment. The artist emphasizes a broader understanding of belonging, highlighting the impact of imposing a singular entity’s definition of what is “natural.”