On Termites And Trees

Installation view, On Termites And Trees, 300x30x0,5cm

Latex, wood, steel wire

In the installation On Termites and Trees, an unmapped world is brought into visibility. The work merges sculpture, photography, and drawing, with the term photographic object best describing my artistic approach. I use latex as a material, which, freshly applied, traces the imprints left by the termites and faithfully reproduces their drawings as the material undergoes the binding process. The procedural and changeable aspects become integral to the process of making the piece, having an alchemical quality to them. This method mirrors my work in the photographic darkroom: Similar to my workflow there, a negative image is created and becomes an embodiment of a particular moment in time and its decay, and as well, an embodiment of presence and absence. To me, On Termites and Trees resembles a cartographic representations of a world we fail to map out and which moves according to its own rules, its own time.

Notions of the transience are evident in the material itself: Akin to the decomposing tree, latex ages and changes due to environmental influences, becoming more transparent and porous. Consequently, the soft sculpture objects reintegrate into the natural cycle. In forests, termites play a crucial role in the decomposition of wood, releasing nutrients that enable other organisms to further break down the wood, thereby sustaining the cycle of life and decay within the ecosystem. I am fascinated by the fact that we barely can take note of these processes occurring in our very surroundings.

The installation aims to embody a cyclical perception of time, serving hereby as an artifact. An accumulation of traces that can be read and touched, explored as a map — a cartography of elapsed time that bridges the past into the present and future.