Shady Poems
The sculptural series Shady Poems immortalizes an early messaging system—engraving on bark—in aluminum. They elevate intimate messages between lovers, notes to self, and symbolic art into public-facing works that provoke a viewers’ thought. Dynamics of spectatorship an dprivacy play out on the textured bark. “La La” depicts a nude and cartoonish woman,” while “Carrots, Beans, Peanuts, Oranges” connotes a scrawled-out grocery list. What does “Om Tree” mean? For whom was the message intended? The short and humorous series reveals a play between language and image while reminding us of the marks we leave on trees. Are these pictures symbols of the damage we do to the natural world, or do they offer the promise of unconventional communication with and through our environment?