Charcoal drawings on tree stumps in Charlottenlund Forest.
FACE FOREST
Exhibition, performance and interactive art event hosted by House of Wild Wood Woman
in Charlottenlund Forest, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2011.
On the opening day in June 2011, Anne Mølleskov transformed a part of Charlottenlund forest into a Face Forest with human faces drawn on freshly cut tree stumps using charcoal, a material derived from wood. Each face was unique, turning the combinations of tree stump and drawing into new entities rather than mere representations of individuals.
This temporary gallery blurred the traditional boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces and between the art world and the non-art world. In the weeks following the opening, many visitors were simply forest walkers who by chance might stumble upon and wonder about the presence of a face here and there in forest floor, unaware they were actually walking through a gallery.
The exhibition's duration was determined by natural elements like wind, water, and natural degradation, which altered the drawings' appearance over time. The work aimed to question and reflect on the human connection to trees, drawing on numerous myths, tales, and popular stories that suggest a deep-rooted belief in an intimate bond between humans and trees.
For example, the Russian author Anatolij Kim poetically writes in the novel "Father-Forest": "When a human being dies, it becomes a tree, and when a tree dies, it becomes a human being." Trees are often attributed with human characteristics and behaviors, such as the ability to feel pain and pleasure, communicate with one another, and act altruistically.
Our strong connections with trees may partly stem from physical similarities: we both stand upright, have limbs extending from a central trunk, and a crown on top. The pattern of the bronchi branches in our lungs also resembles the root system of many trees.
However, personifying trees might detract from their unique and alien nature. Instead of seeing ourselves and trees as similar, we might appreciate their distinctiveness and adopt an attitude of true wonder when encountering them. This attitude of wonder can also extend to other beings, including humans, as we appreciate their individual uniqueness, including their individual faces :-).
