Who Cares?: Romanticism

Showing posts with label Romanticism. Show all posts

CATWALK – a pilGrimAge

During my artist residency at L'Observatoire in Singapore, I did a walk called "CATWALK – a pilGrimAge" from L'Observatoire to Bukit Timah Visitor Centre, which is situated in one of Singapore's National Parks.

This wander made me wonder, why we wear wild prints, and why we drink. And finally inspired me to do a landscape (painting).

Cheers!

Stand Tall with The Trees

On International Day of Forests 2019, I conducted an event, Stand Tall with The Trees in the nearby forest of L'Observatoire, where I currently am an artist in residence.

Congratulations to the participants, who managed to stand still in a tropical secondary rainforest full of lively creatures, who also wanted to join the party 😅

Afterwards we enjoyed a l'dejeuner sur l'herbe.

Survival Gear

Easy to spot - but how to distinguish between magic sticks, walking sticks, talking sticks, pointing sticks, tickling sticks, poking sticks, and selfie sticks?
Well, as part of my residency at L'Observatoire in Singapore, I collected sticks in the nearby forest and made my own collection of survival gear for forest fantasies and other forestic affairs 🌳
The false arm has followed me from a previous project years ago, always good to have an extra arm.

In Pursuit of Wildness

Finding wilderness is a challenge these days, but finding wildness is possible anywhere.
On International Day of Forests 2016 I found wildness in the central part of Singapore at LaSalle College of the Arts setting up my self-made tent called House of Wild Wood Woman. For the day I was immersed in the big, lush tropical forest.
Never stop dreaming :-)

DipteroWhat?

DipteroWhat? This was my question, when I initially came across the words Dipterocarpus and Keruing on a field trip with Nature Society Singapore (NSS) a year ago. The words were spoken by Dr Shawn Lum, president of NSS, who guided the trip in MacRitchie Nature Reserve. He had found a big fallen leaf on the forest floor and talked vividly about this leaf as being an indicator of primary forest, i.e. a forest that is relatively untouched and unlogged by humans. The leaf belonged to the majestic dipterocarp trees, whose seedlings and saplings can only thrive in the shadowy primary rain forests.

"DipteroWhat?", a handmade zine by Who Cares? for Singapore Art Book Fair 2014 hosted by Squelch Zines

I had recently relocated from the decidious forests of Scandinavia to the tropical rainforest of Singapore and knew very little about trees from this part of the world. But I was hooked from the moment Dr Shawn Lum talked about this kind of tropical trees as being the defining trees of the original rainforest in Singapore and tropical Southeast Asia. The dipterocarp forests are the tallest and most diverse rainforests in the world and once proudly stood where now stand shopping centers, factories, housing estates and endless palm oil plantations. Many of the 500 different species of the Dipterocarpaceae family are endangered due to extensive illegal logging.

I wanted to know more and was happy for an opportunity to stay focused in the midst of the overwhelming diverse tropical rainforest.

During the last year I have spend much time in the forests of particularly Singapore, but also Borneo and Malaysia. I am collecting personal notes using botanical studies, photography, video recordings, intuitive ink brush paintings etc. I read books and articles and I use all my meditative energy to become one-become two-become-TREE in order to try to grasp the phenomenon of dipterocarps.

Thanks to botanist Joseph Lai, who is so passionate about MacRitchie and kindly has taught me a lot and pointed out many dipterocarps, and thanks to LoveMacRitchie and Toddycats for their highly informative and interesting field trips.

For now, I have made a handmade collection of notes for Singapore Art Book Fair 2014 (thanks to Squelch Zines for hosting), but the work is still in progress, and my quest(ion) is as ever: DipteroWHAT?