(Re)learning tree-time
Losæter, Oslo, Norway | Spring & Autumn 2024
‘We are all grandchildren and we are all ancestors’, Julia Whaipooti, Maori lawyer & children’s rights campaigner.
‘I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past’, Maori proverb.
‘We do not inherit the land from our ancestors;
we borrow it from our children’, Apache saying.
‘trees teach us about life at the speed of wood.’
Richard Powers, novellist.
ARTWORKS
PERMANENT ART INSTALLATION- whittling time away with trees - Zoe Jo Rae, Andrew Niday, Eliana Vero. Urtealliansen Plot, Losæter, Oslo, Norway. September 2024.
Elm Structure and Hawthorn tree sappling, 120x120x150cm. 2stk.
Installation that merged the previously made tree-supports with the planted trees during the tree-planting workshop held at Losæter in September 2024.
The workshop combined both a performance by Eliana Vero as Mother Nature and the practical tree-planting knowledge of Andrew Niday and Zoe Jo Rae.
Elm Structure and Hawthorn tree sappling, 120x120x150cm. 2stk.
Installation that merged the previously made tree-supports with the planted trees during the tree-planting workshop held at Losæter in September 2024.
The workshop combined both a performance by Eliana Vero as Mother Nature and the practical tree-planting knowledge of Andrew Niday and Zoe Jo Rae.
PERFORMANCE READING by Liselli Grunwald - ‘A brief encounter with tree-time’. October 2024.
Excerpt from a series of texts and short stories (’Under the Silk Cotton Tree and other words’).
Based on own thoughts, research and workshop documentation.
Excerpt from a series of texts and short stories (’Under the Silk Cotton Tree and other words’).
Based on own thoughts, research and workshop documentation.
Publication. ‘A brief encounter with tree-time’ - by Liselli Grunwald
Excerpt from ’Under the Silk Cotton Tree and other words’. May 2024.
Excerpt from text:
‘And dat’s because allyuh paid attention to tree-time right here, dancing around busy busy busy, goin’ about visiting e-vry-earthly-ting’ says Marma, ‘allyuh used to be able to see tree-time yuh know, not necessarily with allyuh eyes, and ears, and nose and mouth and skin, but inside, in your stomach, in yuh brain, in yuh muscles and in yuh nails’.
I is still whittling away. She watches as Tree-Time quietly sits on the Linden branches she’s working with.
Suddenly I can see a young Aunty Lindy, when she was still human, walking in this same forest, chatting away to the birds and mushrooms. But also a young Linden tree, dancing to the wind, with its leaves whispering a bygone song to themselves. And then also at the same time, an older Linden tree and a hurricane, and the branches breaking off in the wind and falling to the ground. And an old Aunty Lindy smiling in her white bed, still alive but her eyes stuck to memories of the past. Or is it the future? I isn’t sure anymore, her mind expanding with the awareness.
And just as suddenly as they’ve arrived, the memories stop: Tree-time has left, it went to sit on the young branches of Tilili the Hawthorn tree, who are, just at that moment, growing thick with age.
Excerpt from ’Under the Silk Cotton Tree and other words’. May 2024.
Excerpt from text:
‘And dat’s because allyuh paid attention to tree-time right here, dancing around busy busy busy, goin’ about visiting e-vry-earthly-ting’ says Marma, ‘allyuh used to be able to see tree-time yuh know, not necessarily with allyuh eyes, and ears, and nose and mouth and skin, but inside, in your stomach, in yuh brain, in yuh muscles and in yuh nails’.
I is still whittling away. She watches as Tree-Time quietly sits on the Linden branches she’s working with.
Suddenly I can see a young Aunty Lindy, when she was still human, walking in this same forest, chatting away to the birds and mushrooms. But also a young Linden tree, dancing to the wind, with its leaves whispering a bygone song to themselves. And then also at the same time, an older Linden tree and a hurricane, and the branches breaking off in the wind and falling to the ground. And an old Aunty Lindy smiling in her white bed, still alive but her eyes stuck to memories of the past. Or is it the future? I isn’t sure anymore, her mind expanding with the awareness.
And just as suddenly as they’ve arrived, the memories stop: Tree-time has left, it went to sit on the young branches of Tilili the Hawthorn tree, who are, just at that moment, growing thick with age.
PERMANENT ART INSTALLATION ‘whittling time away’ - Zoe Jo Rae. May 2024.
Urtealliansen Plot, Losæter, Oslo, NORWAY
Elm, 120x120x150cm. 2stk.
Designed by Zoe Jo Rae as part of the ‘whittling time away’ workshop held at Losæter in May 2024.
The whittling workshop involved a discussion around key topics and themes related to the project while whittling tree supports made from gathered branches of older trees. Participants were each whittling their own branche which were then assembled together to form on unit.
These tree supports will be used to support the young saplings to be planted during the tree-planting workshop in autumn.
This is a way to symbolise the generational changing of time, the passing on of knowledge from the older generation to the younger generation.
Urtealliansen Plot, Losæter, Oslo, NORWAY
Elm, 120x120x150cm. 2stk.
Designed by Zoe Jo Rae as part of the ‘whittling time away’ workshop held at Losæter in May 2024.
The whittling workshop involved a discussion around key topics and themes related to the project while whittling tree supports made from gathered branches of older trees. Participants were each whittling their own branche which were then assembled together to form on unit.
These tree supports will be used to support the young saplings to be planted during the tree-planting workshop in autumn.
This is a way to symbolise the generational changing of time, the passing on of knowledge from the older generation to the younger generation.
TEMPORARY ART INSTALLATION ‘tree-time flags’ - May 2024.
Urtealliansen Plot, Losæter, Oslo, NORWAY
Participative artwork, cotton canvas bunting flags, natural inks and dyes (nettle, pine bark, aronia berries, reinfann, gulrandkjuke, cutch). 30 meters.
The bunting flags were made during the printing workshop held at Losæter in May 2024 and headed by Liselli Grunwald with the help of Francesca Tullio, Zoe Jo Rae and Eliana Vero.
The printmaking workshop involves printing on cotton canvas bunting flags, using found objects and natural dyes made from Losæter plants or surroundings. These flags will be used as decorations for the setting of the 90th birthday party event. The printing will be done blindfolded to force us, participants and collaborators, to rely on our other senses, such as smell and touch, to create art collectively.
The flags were used to decorate the setting of the ‘90th birthday’ dinner party event, also held at Losæter in May 2024. These will be donated to Losæter, should they wish to keep them, for future gatherings.
Urtealliansen Plot, Losæter, Oslo, NORWAY
Participative artwork, cotton canvas bunting flags, natural inks and dyes (nettle, pine bark, aronia berries, reinfann, gulrandkjuke, cutch). 30 meters.
The bunting flags were made during the printing workshop held at Losæter in May 2024 and headed by Liselli Grunwald with the help of Francesca Tullio, Zoe Jo Rae and Eliana Vero.
The printmaking workshop involves printing on cotton canvas bunting flags, using found objects and natural dyes made from Losæter plants or surroundings. These flags will be used as decorations for the setting of the 90th birthday party event. The printing will be done blindfolded to force us, participants and collaborators, to rely on our other senses, such as smell and touch, to create art collectively.
The flags were used to decorate the setting of the ‘90th birthday’ dinner party event, also held at Losæter in May 2024. These will be donated to Losæter, should they wish to keep them, for future gatherings.