Project

My work challenges the viewer to pause at the tree and thereby look beyond its beauty or utility. This project is a quest for hidden stories and forgotten perspectives through which we relate to a tree. This is to honor the tree as it deserves and to challenge the viewer to reflect on the multiplicity of the tree. When we encounter a tree and pause to consider what that tree has to offer us, we often think first of the aesthetic and useful elements of a tree. During a walk, a particular tree may appeal to us because it is colorful and beautiful. For that reason, it enchants us and causes us to pause for a moment. We pause at the tree's beauty, and continue our journey. Furthermore, we all also have an awareness of a tree's usefulness: it offers us shade, firewood, paper, and takes on the role of the earth's lungs. It is useful to us as humans, and must therefore be planted or protected. I too looked at the tree in this way for a long time, and saw in the tree the ideal model for capturing beauty in the world. What began, however, as a journey through the visual arts, inspired by my fascination with old magazines featuring the tree as a subject, has unfolded over time as a quest for hidden stories and forgotten perspectives of the tree, guided by the insights of authors such as Ton Lemaire and Peter Wohlleben. They taught me that observing trees extends beyond merely viewing their aesthetics or glorifying their utility. They can open the door to a world of hidden meanings. It is these 'forgotten perspectives' that I will pause to consider, in order to honor the tree as it deserves.