#Tree: The Installation

“Tree” was part of the group show “Forecast” that brought together Jackie Karuti, Gor Soudan and myself at the Goethe Institute Nairobi.

“Tree” was the creation of a tree by someone who had never seen a tree but had been given the definition from memory by someone who once knew what a tree was.

As the days progressed over the one week, the rose petals began to rot. Each day, the petals changed in look and smell and this spoke about the progression of life to death, fresh memory to forgotten memory.

The changing colours represent changing seasons as imagined by “the one who never saw a tree.” While the use of newspaper is symbolic of our consumption of tree products.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Forecast was part of a discussion on climate change led by the Goethe Institute and Alliance Francais that saw art as the medium for discussion of this topical issue.