See the Forest for the Trees – Contextualizing Icelandic Arboreality: artistic research project completed as a recipient of the Icelandic Centre for Research Rannís Student Innovation Grant, Summer 2019, under the supervision of Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir – Iceland Academy of the Arts
This multidisciplinary artistic research project observes the Icelandic forest as an innovative environmental architecture – a body vessel of geophysical information embedded with ecological, cultural, and historical subtexts. The expression of tree species represented in an Icelandic forest, designated and undesignated by the Icelandic Forestry Service, embody a dwelling of biodiversity related to the root etymology of ecology and economy as an abode of cultivation for all beings: human, non-human and arboreal.
Objectives & Observations: Forests of Iceland cover approximately 2% of the island nations land area compared to 25% upon settlement in the 9th century. This minority expression of arboreality represents a complex ecosystem reliant upon human engagement through reforestation and afforestation in a confluent effort to support both regional and global ecological sustainability at a critical environmental juncture – a time when planting trees is one of humanities greatest hopes in taking action to curb the climate crisis.
In the beginning stages of my research project I had the fortuitous introduction to The Green Belt Movement, a grassroots environmental initiative founded by Wangari Maathai in 1977 to combat deforestation in her native Kenya through community tree planting initiatives. Maathai’s vision and persistence made her the recipient of the Nobel Prize in 2004; her efforts not only transformed the landscape of her east African nation, but affected positive change by reframing socio-political and cultural norms. Maathai’s environmental and spiritual philosophy served as an influential resource throughout this project, pillars that continue to structure my art practice in addressing environmental and social issues dependent upon creative interventions as innovative strategies for the future of our planet – a future for all human and non-human beings.
Site-specific sculptural investigations were placed in the Heiðmörk Nature Reserve, constructed using material felled in the reserve, along with one work from the city of Reykjavík. These works aimed to draw awareness to metaphorical representations embedded within the forest as environmental architectures emblematic of both recreation and economy. A comprehensive exhibition of my artistic research was exhibited at the Nordic House Greenhouse upon the conclusion of the research grant, September 2019.
The results of my artistic research as a visual contextualization of the Icelandic forest encourages an underlying objective – to bring awareness to a critical environmental evolution underway in Iceland whilst concurrently the importance of this movement on a global scale through a contemporary art practice rooted in ecological and social agency. For more information regarding this project and ongoing research, please write: info@katrinajane.net
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