projects1

Condensed Forest

Installation from natural materials, 2018 FR

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For this installation I collected materials from forest walks that caught my eye; floating fallen branches that hadn’t made the ground, a half eaten butterfly, fluffy lichens, rock formations, a lonely little red flower, mosses, elderberries, travelling seeds flying amidst infinite shades of greens and browns. 

I singled out the details that sparked inhalations of joy and placed them in a circle on the 2nd floor of an old castle. As the day passed, the sun would climb through the window and highlight each individual object, with the exception of the glass campfire in the middle that represented stories of decay. 

This whimsical sphere of delicate breaths became a place to celebrate and share stories of decay. A subject we so often shut our eyes too in Western society as it is associated with pain and loss, but in a forest it is what creates the delicious smells after a summer rain for it nourishes the living.

A nymph’s breath

Will you let me pick your breath?
I will keep it safe.
Put it in my pocket,
or in a jar.

For when our campfire is dying 
and the ground gets cold,
I will touch,
I will hold,
I will squeeze, 
break it into a million sparkly seeds,
to warm my hands.

And when the sun wakes up again
I will give them to the morning breeze, 
to spread.

Where they will wait under the ground 
for all the seasons to come around, 
to bring us back to life
again.

”Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”

John Muir 

This installation was made in Boisbuchet during a florist workshop by the Scottish design studio Pyrus

All works, text and photographs are the intellectual property of Nina van Hartskamp © 2020