Earth's population increases at an average rate of 1 million people every four days.

The magnitude of that rate is hard to grasp, and it's easy for many people to push it out of their minds because it's just a number.

But Rie Hachiyanagi couldn't forget about it.

So she created a nearly 45-foot-high art installation to illustrate "the complex relationship to birth and the precarious balance of our life."

"Everyone should be aware, but we don't feel the effect (of population growth) every day," Hachiyanagi said.

The art was installed in the 54,000-cubic-foot Lightwell Gallery inside the University of Oklahoma School of Art.

"One Million Every Four Days" features 1,000 small plastic babies that are tied into plexiglass frames. The frames are then strung together and suspended inside the gallery space. In addition to the babies, another 1,000 empty plexiglass frames are hung in the gallery.

The aim of the installation is to provoke thought about the current rate of population growth.

"I just wanted this piece to make people think about birth," Hachiyanagi said.

Hachiyanagi said the issue of population growth is complex. Overpopulation can lead to poverty and overconsumption of the earth's resources. But births are generally celebrated as joyous occasions in our society.

Hachiyanagi recently visited her home country, Japan, and saw the negative results of a low birth rate. The younger generation has to support a larger aging population and as a result a lot of immigrants come to fulfill jobs but don't take care of Japan because they hold no pride in it, she said.

Originally from Sapporo, Japan, Hachiyanagi came to the United States as a high school exchange student. She went on to receive her bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa and a master of fine arts from the University of California at Santa Barbara. After teaching at Alfred University in New York for five years, she now teaches at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

She is the guest artist chosen for the inaugural Lightwell Gallery Project, which brings in artists to use the unique gallery space in the OU School of Art.

Jonathan Hils, associate professor in the School of Art and Art History, was one of the professors who began the project. He said it is hoped that it will be an annual event.

This art installation will mean different things to different people, he said.