remapping bodies (2019-2020)

is looking at the struggles of Trees of Heaven (Ailanthus Altissima)

This species was first introduced to Europe in 1751 by the French missionary Pierre d’Incaville who sent seeds from Nanking, China to the Royal Society of London, thinking at that time that this was the tree species used by the Chinese and Japanese for the production of varnish.

This “invasive” fast growing deciduous tree is easy to be found in the urban area of Bucharest where it sprouts up just about anywhere, including alleys, buildings, fences, sidewalks, parking lots and streets and is extremely resistant to drought and pollution.

In the slow process of conquering the outside space, the tree trunk faces difficulties in regaining the territory taken up by the fence. In their biological process, the trees step outside their shape by reconstructing their initial inner structures when contact another body. Here’s when other survival valves reach out.

Shown here as a living sculpture/alien structure around the city, they become a constant reminder for limitations and borders from and of the periphery.

The photographic series is an accumulation of subjects. Documented in a clinical manner, using a grey background to highlight and decontextualize the struggles of these so-called ghetto palms.