Il vento mi porta le tue parole
We are nature, we are part of nature, and we are something indivisible or interconnected; human and non-human, but we share something – “animality”.
Through research, study, observation, and listening, we come to realize that trees (or nature in general) are like humans; trees see, listen, feel emotions and memories, and like us, they need care, they want to communicate, they have so much to say. When I thought about trees, I immediately realized that surely “the forest does not forget, even when we wish it would forget our violations.” So, I had to connect with the tree and its nature. To better understand the memory of the tree (everything it has seen so far, all the experiences, and…).
This work comes from a series produced by trees. To carry out this project, I attach the markers to the branches of the trees and then position the sheets of tracing paper in such a way as to record the natural movements of the trees, as well as their moments of stillness. (I used black markers, as this color is typically associated with the concept of imprint, of trace.) Each drawing reveals something about the different qualities and characteristics of the various trees. Subsequently, I photograph the drawings and print them with two techniques Cyanotype and Anthotype.
The process is crucial for my work, so each tree drawing is accompanied by a photograph or video documenting the location and method of its creation. So, my work is a gesture of collecting the invisible memories of nature (in this case, the trees’ experiences). It’s the tree that writes, so the tree is the author. Trees tell many stories. They can be welcoming, but they can also bring you down, they can be very violent. The tree evokes different experiences but leaves no one indifferent.
The execution of these performances lasted almost a year, not frequently.
Project process:
- Trees draw on tracing paper. (Fig. 1)
- I photograph these drawings. (Fig. 2)
- I print the photos on a transparent sheet. (Fig. 3)
- I use the transparent sheets as a negative and print them on
watercolor paper using the cyanotype and anthotype techniques. (Fig. 4,5,6)
