“The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn…”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the dirt.
This is where life begins.
The journey starts in darkness.
Trees often inspire the gaze upward. A large crown certainly commands the head to tilt upwards to take in the scope of an exceptional canopy. Walking my dog one day in November, standing under the cover of a large oak tree, instead, I was looking down. Under a blanket of damp leaves, a partially exposed germinating oak seed caught my attention.
Within this tightly packed container is a working blueprint.
Memory is the beginning.
Long months of waiting end as the embryonic shell cracks open. These seeds very much alive wait for the right temperature, the required amount of moisture, and humidity. They wait for the correct amount of light. With a simple curl, the primal root emerges. An imprinted pattern of evolution guides the root downward penetrating the moist earth, while the shoots’ growth is directed upward towards the light.
Aristotle believed in what he called essential form, the goal to which all things strive. He explains, ‘the acorns’ intent is to grow into an oak tree.’ The ancient oak that towers above and the seed below both share the same desire with all living things: the desire to fulfill their purpose, to grow into their natural form. Bursting with vitality and life, each seed speaks a unique language of gesture and shadow.
Processing and exposure constraints dictate the paper size. Multiple sheets are exposed separately. Each sheet is part of something larger, echoing the same interconnected truths seen in the natural world.
