Threshold

Every piece of work begins somewhere, although that beginning is not always obvious at the time. These images and recording document my first sustained encounter with a tree that later became central to my ‘Rooted Relations’ research, marking the threshold of what was about to unfold.

At this stage, I wasn’t searching for a finished artwork or testing a predetermined idea. I was spending time observing, listening and becoming familiar with my environment through repeated visits. The photographs became a way of slowing my attention, noticing details that might have otherwise been overlooked and the biosonification device allowed me an opportunity to connect with the trees beyond its physical appearance.

These early encounters offered me the space to slow down, breathe and engage with my environment relationally, which marked the beginning of a relationship rather than the beginning of an object. It introduced questions that would continue to shape my practice: What happens when observation becomes participation? How might continued attention influence creative decision-making? What forms of knowledge emerge through repeated encounters with the natural world?

Looking back, these first images seem deceptively simple. At the time, they felt like documentation. Now I recognise them as the foundations of an evolving enquiry. Each return to the tree revealed something completely different, sometimes from one day to the next. Not necessarily because the tree had change, but because my own perception had, and continues to.