Reaching (Trees) 2021

Beeswax coated hemp wick.

video 3’8”.

Reaching is a stop motion animation consisting of three trees made entirely of beeswax coated hemp wick. My goal in creating this work was to show the communicative root systems of the trees, focusing on points of connection. Through the process of animation, I am able to grant the trees movement and imagined emotion as a way to encourage multispecies solidarity. The material I have chosen to work with is beeswax coated hemp wick. Beeswax as a material has the potential to capture both movement and time in the way that it is constructed and holds healing properties. When burned, beeswax produces negative ions, and those ions help to neutralize pollutants in turn improving the quality of air. I am interested in using the beeswax material as a bridge between human and plant understanding.