Tree Honouring

Tree Honouring is a project that celebrates and honours the life of urban trees that died in my neighbourhood. The series was created between a three year period from 2016 to 2019. 

During this time, I photographed the dead trees and brought them back to life with acrylic ink. The series includes images of trees that died due to an ice storm in 2013. Some of these trees also died from an Emerald Ash Borer breakout that killed many Ash trees. Majority of the trees 

I photographed have been completely removed since the completion of the project. The trees were local to Peel Region in Brampton, Ontario Canada. Most of them were found along a section of the Etobicoke Creek Trail near my house in Brampton, and a few of them lived on my street. One of the trees in the series was taken in Port Credit, Ontario, which is a city 30 minutes south of Brampton.

Trees and nature are common themes in all of my work. A significant part of my process as an artist is to spend time in nature by taking daily walks in my neighbourhood and on local trails. 

As I took photos of the dead trees, I was inspired to bring them back to life through painting. 

The inspiration to create a mixed media project came from a series called Arctic Wonderland by Canadian artist Sarah Anne Johnson. Most of Johnson’s photographic work includes mixed media to express the emotions and experience of an event, which is something that photography alone cannot provide. For Arctic Wonderland, she used paint as a way to evoke a feeling of celebration for the Arctic, and to bring awareness to the fragility of the area due to the disappearance of ice caused by climate change. As I watched the landscape change around me due to the disappearance of trees, I wanted to express my strong desire to see these trees alive and vibrant once again. I also wanted to bring attention to the vulnerability of urban trees in the midst of urban sprawl, extreme weather events, and environmental issues.

Once all of the photographs were taken, I printed 4x6 photos as prototypes to experiment with the visual look of the series. I decided to use acrylic ink after some trial and error on the prototypes. Three of the trees I photographed also required paint pens to draw the missing branches. The next step in the process was to print 12x18 photographs on 100 percent cotton rag photo paper. I chose cotton-based paper instead of traditional photo paper made from wood pulp due to the theme of the series. Painting the trees with acrylic ink was an intuitive process, including the choice of colours for the leaves. My intention was to make the trees look vibrant and evoke feelings of celebration and hope. As environmental issues continue to rise I feel art is a necessary tool to raise awareness of ecological decline and instill a sense of hope and advocacy for the future of our planet.