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.

Exotic Botany

Teach Me Tiger

We love wild things and everything wild, but do we really dare to embrace it? And do we want it? Or should it rather be stuffed behind glass or securely (dis)placed in zoos? It seems like our own wildness is so suppressed these days, that it is forced to express itself in other ways, e.g. today's fashion dictates "wild cats" in fabric print, shoes, clothes etc.
Here is a selection from my wardrobe set free for a while in the Singaporean jungle:

 

 

 

 

However, I must admit, I was really pleased, when I recently became aware that there is some kind of wildness left in the nearby, where I currently live. The Malayan tiger and other magnificent animals have been captured by one of Rimba's photo traps in Kenyir Wildlife Corridor, Terengganu, West Malaysia. - "Dear Tiger. Did you say "cheese"?" I hope not, but rather: "Meeeeeeeeeaaat".

Can we please have some more tigers and wild animals in the forests (and some more forests to accommodate them)? Then we don't have to constantly compensate with various superimposed, wildly tame disguises!

"In wildness is the preservation of the world" (from Henry David Thoreau's: "Walking".

Photos: top: from Bukit Timah Nature Reserve's Visitor Centre, bottom: Rimba.

Dr. Wild Wood Woman, I presume?

When you come from the cold temperate Northern Europe and relocate to such a different environment like tropical Southeast Asia, you can either continue communicating in your usual manner, now with a tropical twist, or you can choose to keep quiet for a period, while you acquire new skills and languages. I chose the latter - or rather it chose me.
Now after a year, I am still a beginner in tropical flora and fauna as well as in Chinese and tai chi. The Chinese character for "forest" might as well mean "sewing machine", in tai chi I 
have learned up to "the snake" in the 24-form, and I am now able to recognize and name 5 tropical plants, all trees.
But nevertheless I can't keep quiet any longer, so please accept my apologies for any future tropical nonsense.