wood on trees
2010-2011
15 analogue c-type photographs 40x50cm each, three drawings, site-specific outdoor work

Wood on trees is both a site-specific structure, and a series of photographs and technical drawings depicting an attempt to restore two birch trees that have died standing in a forest. By using scraps of industrially processed wooden planks, the decaying tree trunks are covered with a new shell of wood. Several times a year the trees’ progress is checked and further constructions made to repair and form them. Through weathering and occasional vandalism the trees are constantly changing and the restoration never completes. As each stage of construction only carries a limited lifespan, the project adapts a Sisyphean quality, visible in the repeated acts of disassembling and rebuilding.

The photographs are framed in mass produced wood-effect frames and presented as an unfinished grid. The trees are located in a forest in Vehkataipale, Eastern Finland.

With the kind support of The Arts Council of Finland and The Finnish Cultural Foundation.