ON TREES, BELONGING, AND MEMORY

Photographs of Australian trees take center stage in a series of works reflecting the relationship among Memory, Materiality, and Time. These gigantic beings were ever-present in my daily spaces, becoming pivotal entities around which I crafted my personal narrative in the territory we inhabited simultaneously. According to Giovanni Aloi, “very few nonhumans have been burdened by cultural symbolism like trees have. Their longevity and verticality have lent them the ability to stand as metaphors for human life, strength, protection, spirituality, mourning, and generosity”[1]. Thus, it is not a surprise that they stand at the threshold of my exploration of art and the natural world.

Unlike plants, trees, by their biology and size, can stand sentry for centuries, becoming iconic individuals with their own character. A series of works I produced during my life in Australia have trees as an axis intertwining my personal history with the subtext cultural history of the place inscribe on them: Trees as a metaphor of time, as immigrants who adapted to a new habitat, as a visual representation of pivotal moments, and as the result of colonization, and so on.

In Melbourne and Sydney, many trees were strategically brought from Britain, organized in catalogs, and planted in parks and gardens to regulate urban environments. So, they embody a constant flux within their apparent stillness. I propose this alternative focus to approach trees, rather than having them as a representation of stability and security, I visually discuss how they are in motion and constantly changing. I bring attention to the apparent fortitude and frugality of trees, to shift to see them with respect to their own history.

The works in this project consist of photographs I have taken, alongside found images and snapshots from my family album—all centered around trees and foliage. These images are reassembled and transformed using craft materials and paint, creating layered compositions. Echoing Geoffrey Batchen’s assertion [2] that photographs not only recall what they depict but also function as catalysts for broader acts of remembrance, my work engages photography as a tool for evoking memory. Rather than focusing solely on the visual accuracy of the image, I use photography as a medium of provocation, prompting reflections that bridge personal and collective histories, both past and present.

Changing, Relocating memories, Build on Fragments, Inner Memories constitute a body of work that maps an introspective cartography, inviting viewers to question the potential of trees, objects, photographs, and interventions to foster a visual dialogue between images, history, and personal experiences

[1] Aloi, G. (2018). Why Look at Plants? The Botanical Emergence in Contemporary Art. Netherlands: Brill. P. 69..

[2] Batchen, G. (2006). Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance. Netherlands: Princeton Architectural Press. P. 14.