Maya Lin is known for her large-scale environmental artworks, architectural works, and memorial designs, which explore how land is tied to history, memory, time and language.

What Is Missing? is Lin’s fifth and final project in her Memorial series. It focuses attention on species and places that have gone extinct or will most likely disappear within our lifetime if we do not act to protect them. The project exists formally as both permanent sculptures and as temporary media exhibits; but it also exists virtually—as a website, whatismissing.org, which acts as a nexus for the entire project.

The “Map of Memory” section of What Is Missing? highlights ecological histories of habitats, species, waterways, and cities—with timelines, videos, historic accounts, conservation success and disaster stories, and user-submitted personal memories. Interacting with the timeline on the touchscreen, you can explore a natural history of the earth—past, present, and future.