Holy Tree, installation view, Warsaw 2020.

 

This picture depicts an installation where I attached beeswax body parts - such as an ear, tongue, nose, or pair of lips - to the trunk of a spruce. Ancient Slavic beliefs held that trees were inhabited by ghosts. Pagan ceremonies centered on these trees, which locals were required to care for. My work was intended to humanize these plants to make people more reverent towards nature.

Most species of trees are likely to die when exposed to temperatures over 30C for an extended period of time. My concept of attaching wax parts to trees is intended to serve as a warning device that would melt if the temperature would rise too high. 

My work uses organic material in the form of beeswax, which I collected from local beekeepers near my town. The material is environmentally friendly and biodegradable. It causes no harm to trees, and can be reused afterwards, for example being transformed into a new artwork or useful object. This means that it has many lives.

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This project will be presented during the exhibition “Entangled Forests” on the consequences climate change has on forests in 2023 in Zurich.

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