Gemini
“Let us tell their stories, learn our history and remember the lost possibilities of every life cut short.”
- Governor General of Canada
Trees, recognizable from any perspective for their sturdy trunks and far reaching limbs, are often also a metaphor for strength, kinship and even life itself. Yet, even the hardiest among them are vulnerable to the whims of humans. This photographic series reveals the faces of wooded life cut short by humankind in pursuit of materials, products or even just unencumbered land. Raggedly severed cross sections pose as portraits of once majestic tree forms. Cross sections expose the anatomy, and in so doing, the passage of time and clues to conditions throughout their lifetime. The "group" images in which white is black, and black is white further reveals the structures that supported the tree and life itself.
We came to this photographic project with some degree of guilt and even regret. At the behest of our town, with a building permit in the offing, we removed an outcropping of “non-native” redwood trees. The portraits of trees “cut short” is our tribute to not just the one time inhabitants of our property, but others who fall prey to human dominance and desire.
Omar
Beatrice
Gemini
Quentin
Olaf
Daisy
Mo
Brandon
Thiro
