I have this idea of not just wanting to take inspiration from the forest, and learn from the forest, but to also give back. To share the art with the forest too. To collaborate.
I also want to try and encourage others to slow down.
I listen to the other humans in the forest and I find that I get irritated with some... those who are walking at high speed and discussing loudly about things at work and other stuff far removed from the forest... it kind of prevents them from connecting with the forest. They are using it, rather than respecting it (even if they are not being directly disrespectful).
I think due to the fact I consider myself a play activist, I enjoy the sound of children playing and experiencing the forest. The sound is different.
Anyway I wanted to mix my art and my activism a little. Both for play and also for the climate. I took a pen with me, and whenever I saw a piece of bark, or fallen tree paper, or a stick, or a dead tree trunk that "spoke" to me I wrote a word. I knew that I wanted to write the words #slowdown #lookclosely and #listendeeply as these are words that I have been using for many years in my process to not only connect with nature but also to slow down and connect with children and play.
The rest of the words came to me at the place I wrote them. Even when I had words that went round my head to use... they did not always get used, because the place, or the piece of tree paper sort of insisted on another word instead.
I put them in places where they may be seen, with the potential to be moved, or blown away... except for one, on a dead tree trunk that had been partially chopped down. Writing on that one was the one I felt the most uncomfortable doing, as it felt like pushing the boundaries of interfering with the forest and doing something I should not.
As I made my way back it was exciting to re-find the words. I know some will not be there next time, but there is a chance that more than one might still be there.
This is a way of interacting with the in-between.
It is in-between art and activism.
It is in-between nature and nurture... my learned skill of writing with a man-made pen on natural elements - using both my languages to express what the forest makes me feel.
I am in-between English and Swedish.
It is all located in-between the canopy and the roots.
I used a mix of Swedish and English, sometimes it felt right in one language more than the other... sometimes it needed both.
strange - märklig
Hemmet - The home
Respekt - respect
Breathe - andas
Wounded - skadad
Mord - murder
Sorg - sorrow
Joy - glädje
Wonder - Förundran
förvandling - transformation
tacksamhet - gratitude