Elizabeth Wiese

Arborescence

Trees have always been in my DNA. From the solid oaks that surrounded my childhood home, to the burlap-bound evergreens at my family’s nursery, to the sunlit cedar grove at my current home, each is part of me. Walking in the woods is a visceral experience, I see my life unfold with each turn of the path. Needles shed from mature pines enrich the saplings below. A current of vines electrifies and inspires a single tree. A copse of uniquely branching deciduous trees shines together in the complexity that surrounds it.

Arborescence is my photographic dance through the forest exploring identity, place, and memory. At times I am audience, expressed with singular landscape images that evoke personal experience. At times I am partner, using self portraiture and multiple exposure to weave our fibers together, embracing the
concept of “being” nature.

As a lifelong dancer, I see myself in the trees. Their branches are port de bras and arabesques, their roots a balanced, solid base. Twisted, tangled trunks and vines remind me of my own crooked path through life, and veins in a leaf are wrinkles beginning to appear on my own face. Our spirits combine on the ground we share, and if only for a moment, we dance.