Conjecture: Block This Way

Humans have an instinct to explore, often in a very tactile way, and seek out emotional connections to our environment (Komar, 2019). The question is, how do we fulfill that need without damaging that environment and impacting the wildlife that depend on it?

This conjecture is inspired by Veronica Ryan's (2025-2026) exhibit, in which she has enormous cast-iron statues of local fruits.

Large cast-iron statues of bugs and fruit local to Ohio would block the entrances/exits to user-created trails in the hope that visitors will be discouraged from using those trails, letting the plant life in that area regrow.

Below are photo edits of what this might look like with statues of the fourteen-spotted ladybug, golden net-winged beetle, and pawpaw fruit blocking the entrances to several user-created trails at Highbanks Metro Park.

In the case of the pawpaw (which the official state native fruit of Ohio), I imagined it would be painted to some degree so that it doesn't look like a potato.

Possible Problems

Bronze statues may invite visitors, particularly children, to climb on them. The Columbus Zoo, for example, has many bronze statues of animals that children are free to climb on.

Due to their small size, they are more of a symbolic gesture, meaning that people can easily step over them (or trip over them and injure themselves). Or, walk around them, which would cause even more damage to the plant life. To address this, there could be signage to accompany the statues stating that they are there to block user-made trails, which can be unsafe and are damaging to the plant life. These signs could include information about the local bug or fruit represented by the statue, and tie it into a message on conservation for a connection to state pride.

Of course, there is also the issue of cost and feasibility of production.

Feedback

If the statues were taller and maybe more abstract, they could become photo stations, and be less easy to pass/walk around. Also, the presence of people stopped to take photos could discourage people from approaching and entering the trail, as well.

Resources.

Halftrack_El_Camino. [u/Halftrack_El_Camino]. (2024). Golden net-winged beetle. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Entomology/comments/1cza9u8/golden_netwinged_beetle/

iNaturalist. (2025) Fourteen-spotted Ladybug. iNaturalist. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/61532-Propylea-quatuordecimpunctata

Komar, M. (2019, May 13). Why touching art is so tempting – and exciting. CNN Style. https://www.cnn.com/style/article/why-we-want-to-touch-art

Schneider, S. (2020). Get a Taste of the Tropics in Ohio! And not just because of the humidity ;). Friends of Metro Parks. https://www.metroparksfriends.org/news/2020/9/16/taste-of-the-tropics-in-ohio

Wexner Center for the Arts. (2025-2026). Veronica Ryan: Unruly Objects. Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.

No AI was used in the creation of this post or its content.