In this project, I take on the role of a tree. I go into the forest and take a series of self-portraits, which I then assemble into a tree-like shape. The result is a kind of bodily mirroring of the trees; "Mirroring" refers to a term in psychology about how one unconsciously copies the body posture and movements of the person one wants to build intimacy with.

I see these works as an investigation of our complex relationship with trees. As a species, we are vitally dependent on the trees, which create the air we breathe, and on the tree roots which protect the soil we live on from erosion. We admire the trees for their calmness, stability, their slow natural life, but at the same time we see them as objects, raw material, something that can only be consumed and destroyed. The trees populate our myths and religions, and are symbols of growth as a human being, of wisdom, life and rebirth. And perhaps, on a post-apocalyptic globe, the trees will retake the earth, and all that will be left after the time of humans are weathered ruins – swallowed up by endless forests.

Trygve Skogrand

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