In 1971, Nancy Holt made Mangrove Ring in Florida as part of a group of films produced during travels to Summerland Key with Robert Smithson. Travel was an important aspect of Nancy Holt’s artistic practice, as can be seen, for example, in the 1972 photographic series California Sun Signs and the audio work US 80: Solo (1976).  Holt and Smithson often traveled together as they developed their work, and she made several films at sites where Smithson realized his earthworks. The film takes its title from a sculpture Smithson made in Florida, where he was interested in the capacity of mangroves to form land. He planted a ring of mangrove seedlings in the ocean off the coast of Summerland Key in the Florida Keys, intending to generate an island over time. The film records the young plants emerging from the water, their leaves extending toward the light. As with the other Florida films, Mangrove Ring  runs for 2 minutes and 57 seconds—the duration of a 100-foot daylight spool used in portable cameras such as the Bolex—establishing a consistent temporal structure.