The Wailers celebrates dying fruit through the creation of a ‘fruit orchestra’. Rotten fruit is often unceremoniously tossed away. In The Wailers, rotten fruit is given a pedestal and an altar. Día de los Muertos, the Mexican tradition of celebrating the departed by creation of elaborate altars containing flowers, foods, candles, and memorabilia, inspired this idea. 

The varying acidity of rotting fruit makes for unique musical and natural resistors when hooked up to a circuit or piezo. When fruit is placed on a spike it activates the circuit, lighting up an led ‘candle’ and singing its own unique tune. The musical ability of the fruit varies by the type of fruit and the degree of decomposition. 

The fruit is placed on individual settings in an altar. The altar is draped in banana leaf lace custom cut in a laser cutter, Mexican textiles and fallen flowers from the garden. As each fruit is gently placed in its setting, it adds to the orchestra of musical fruit. At the end of the ceremony, flowers are tossed and goodbyes are said, thanking the fruit for their contributions and sending them on in their journey. 

Evocative of ritualistic traditions of ancient cultures, The Wailers is an exercise in merging two seemingly unrelated worlds - Materials of Electronics and Biological Science. Resulting in a surprisingly humanistic and thought provoking life centered installation.