In 1975, while working as a nighttime security guard on a construction site, Byron found an uprooted piece of wood that reminded him of a gun. He took it home and hung it on the wall. He quickly became enraptured with roots, scouring riverbanks, lake shores, other construction in progress, and the woods near his home for interesting wood formations; he would varnish them, christening them with names that usually emphasized their nonhuman qualities, as if they were not part of contemporary human concerns. He gradually came to incorporate roots into his home, making them into tables or stands for potted plants.
