Welcome to the Sanctuary: Why Precious Okoyomon Built a Wild Forest (and a 25-Foot Teddy Bear) in New York City

If you’ve been navigating the blistering summer heat of New York City lately, you know that finding a quiet moment of peace can feel like a impossible task. While most of us were seeking shelter in air-conditioned sanctuaries, 33-year-old artist and poet Precious Okoyomon spent some of the hottest weeks of the season out in the blazing sun, getting their hands dirty at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City.

The result of that intense physical labor? A breathtaking, surreal public courtyard commission titled Among the Flowers I Learned to Love, A Garden of Decreation (2026).

Part botanical oasis, part climate change experiment, and part psychological playground, Precious Okoyomon has planted a living, breathing forest right in the middle of Queens. Complete with 50 trees, over 1,500 perennials and annuals, and a colossal 25-foot teddy bear sculpture with an interactive slide, this installation is officially the most talked-about “Style Reset” in the contemporary art world.

At D-Muse Magz, we love moments where high art, environmental urgency, and emotional vulnerability collide. Here is your inside look at why Precious Okoyomon’s new NYC garden is the sanctuary we didn’t know we needed.

1. What is ‘A Garden of Decreation’?

If you walk into the MoMA PS1 courtyard, you aren’t just looking at a manicured flowerbed. Precious Okoyomon has constructed a dense, fragrant wilderness that feels completely untamed.

The title draws inspiration from two distinct literary sources: German romantic poet Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem “When I Was a Boy” and French philosopher Simone Weil’s concept of “decreation”—which refers to the spiritual process of unmaking oneself, shedding the ego, and stripping away the rigid mental structures that distance us from nature.

“When I was a boy / a god would often rescue me / from the shouting and the violence of humans / Then, safe and well, I would play / with the flowers on the meadow…” — Friedrich Hölderlin

For Precious Okoyomon, the garden serves as a literal safe haven from the chaos of the modern world. It offers visitors a chance to drop their defenses, step away from digital noise, and fall gently back into the embrace of the earth.

2. Inside ‘The Pleasure Principle’: The 25-Foot Teddy Bear Slide

Nestled right in the center of the lush greenery sits the most eye-catching element of the entire project: a giant, 25-foot plush teddy bear titled The Pleasure Principle (2026).

While the oversized stuffed animal might look nostalgic and playful from afar, Precious Okoyomon uses it as an interactive metaphor for psychological transformation. To experience the artwork fully, visitors are invited to climb up the structure, step inside, and slide out through the back—spitting them right out into the fragrant garden beds below.

[Climb the Steps] ───> [Enter 'The Pleasure Principle'] ───> [Listen to Surreal Poetry] ───> [Slide Out Transformed into the Garden]

As you slide, a new soundscape poem written by Okoyomon—inspired by Jungian psychoanalysis—plays over loudspeakers. The goal? To make you feel a little uncomfortable, challenge your expectations, and force you to surrender control.

“I’m asking you to let go in a different way,” Precious Okoyomon explains. “How you come out, you’ll be changed, and then you’re spit out into this weird garden. You can smell these funky flowers.”

3. A Botanical Blueprint for Climate Resilience

Beyond its poetic and psychological layers, the garden is a direct response to our changing climate. As New York experiences increasingly unpredictable summer weather and fluctuating seasonal cycles, Precious Okoyomon designed the space as a living blueprint for what resilient urban nature could look like.

Element	Features & Plant Choices	Conceptual Purpose
The Canopy	Over 50 trees, including native birches and fruit trees	Reimagining urban shade and canopy structures
The Undergrowth	1,500+ perennials, annuals, and wildflowers	Creating dense, self-sustaining micro-ecosystems
The “Weeds”	Rapidly adapting, climate-resilient plants	Challenging notions of what is considered “invasive”

Instead of relying solely on delicate, high-maintenance flora, Okoyomon cultivated plants that many people traditionally label as “weeds.” These hearty, adaptive species are rapidly evolving to survive unpredictable climate shifts—making the garden both a peaceful refuge and a warning call about our environmental future.

4. Why This New York Installation Hits Different

While Precious Okoyomon has previously constructed major garden installations for the Bienal de São Paulo and the Aspen Art Museum, this MoMA PS1 commission feels uniquely personal because New York City is their home.

Opening to the public on July 31, 2026, the installation is designed to be visited repeatedly over a long scale of time. Because the ecosystem is constantly living, growing, and reacting to the weather, no two visits will ever feel the same.

Ruba Katrib, chief curator at MoMA PS1, notes that Okoyomon’s project pushes the boundaries of outdoor art, creating a genuine sense of wonder while transforming the museum’s campus into a living laboratory.

Despite the daunting realities of climate change, Precious Okoyomon maintains an oddly hopeful outlook, viewing gardening as an active “practice of futurity”—a commitment to planting seeds today for a future we have yet to see.

The D-Muse Final Verdict

Precious Okoyomon’s A Garden of Decreation at MoMA PS1 is a masterclass in living art. By blending ecological resilience with surreal sculpture and raw poetry, they have created a space that forces us to pause, let go of our egos, and reconnect with the natural world around us.

Whether you’re visiting to slide through a 25-foot teddy bear or simply want to smell the wild clover, this living forest is the ultimate reminder that art isn’t just something you look at—it’s something you grow with.

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