Seeing The Trees For the Forest
The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities
Arvada, Colorado
April 8, 2022 - May 8, 2022
Photos by Wes Magyar
Statement
““Whereas the beautiful is limited, the sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the sublime, attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt.”
― Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason
When one “can’t see the forest for the trees,” it means they are so focused on the so-called insignificant details that they miss the bigger picture. But what are we to do when the big picture is so overwhelming that it is impossible to grasp all at once, or so terrifying that it is difficult to comprehend? As much as the stunning vastness of nature was difficult for 18th century philosophers to fathom, the problems now facing it overwhelm our modern minds. The evidence of climate change, mass extinction and habitat loss are difficult for us to process.
To emphasize what we stand to lose and to encourage a sense of “biophilia” amongst viewers, my work focuses on the grandeur of the small things; the exquisiteness of the ephemeral; an attempt to make the invisible visible and draw attention to the significance of what we are fighting to protect. Through collaborating with nature’s systems and processes and harvesting my materials from the wild, I invite viewers into the hidden spaces of the beehive or the interior of the towering pine, to follow the meanderings of a snail or the engraved travels of the bark beetle.
Just as the trees in the forest transmit signals to one another through networks of mycelium, it is our symbiotic relationship with nature and our interconnectedness with it that I seek to highlight, in all of its sublime beauty.