1. Micocoulier de Lais. Micocoulier. Ulmacées. Celtis cerasifera Schneid, 2020, Unique sublimation print on Chromalux. 2. Chinese Fan Palm. Livistona chinensis – Arecaceae, 2020, Unique sublimation print on Chromalux. 3. Cyprès-Chauve. Taxodium distichum, 2020, Unique sublimation print on Chromalux. 4. Pin Wollemi. Wollemia nobilis, 2020, Unique sublimation print on Chromalux. 5. Wollemi Pine. Wollemia nobilis, 2020, Unique sublimation print on Chromalux. 6. Pin de Corse. Pinacées. Pinus nigra, 2020, Unique sublimation print on Chromalux. 7. Forest Red Gum (Remnant Tree). Eucalyptus tereticornis, 2020, Unique sublimation print on Chromalux. 8. Queensland Kauri Pine. Agathis robusta, 2020, Unique sublimation print on Chromalux.
Louise Fowler-Smith
Exhibited works are a selection from Louise’s exhibition, Portraits of Extraordinary Trees, Illuminated, which brought together for the first time images of ‘remarkable’ and ‘significant’ trees that reside in famous parks in Paris and Versailles and those from the historic, Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. These works were chosen as pertinent for the AN 2023 exhibition, which also highlights the ‘significant’ trees of the Woollahra district.
What makes a tree ‘remarkable’ or ‘significant’? The Mairie de Paris has a database that lists the ‘Remarkable Trees of Paris’. They categorise trees as ‘Remarkable’ by their age, uniqueness, morphology, identity or social role. The Royal Botanic gardens, which holds one of the great tree-collections of the world, follows similar guidelines in naming the ‘Significant Trees of the Royal Botanic Gardens.’ These trees have been designated as significant due to their age, with some predating European settlement or from the earliest plantings. Certain trees have scientific significance, because of rarity or association with scientific work in the Garden. Besides categories which include the ‘largest’, ‘oldest’ and ‘rarest’, some trees are considered significant because they were planted by notable persons or are commemorative trees, giving them a social value. Finally, there are trees that are considered significant for their aesthetic value as pleasing objects.
Of course, many would consider all trees to be ‘extraordinary.’ After all trees are crucial to life. Forests are the lungs of our planet and the longest-lived plants are, in general, trees. Through illumination, and the transformational process of photographic art making, the work in this exhibition presents trees as iconic sentinels that are symbolic witnesses to cross-cultural narratives and histories that are representative of permanence and the continuance of life as we know it. Critically it opens up artworld discourses of the natural world to exploring new ways of perceiving and contemplating the land.
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