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January 21, 2015 By joannecalvacca us-en-busines-builder-pak-2013-1600 TreeGirl: Intimate Encounters with Wild Nature by Julianne Skai Arbor, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® B&N Top 100 NY Times Bestsellers
by Julianne Skai ArborJulianne Skai Arbor
We enjoy being lostor perhaps foundin wildness and the grandness of Nature. TreeGirl brings us there. In the award-winning TreeGirl: Intimate Encounters with Wild Nature, Julianne Skai Arbor, a.k.a. TreeGirl–photographer, certified arborist, conservation educator and forest ecotherapist–invites us into intimate contact with fifty magnificent tree species from her adventures in thirteen countries on four continents. Using a remote-control timer and a tripod, she photographs herself and others in sensual connection with the trees of the world.
This book is not just about trees; it is also about responsibility and freedom. Responsibility because TreeGirl dares to talk about the things that really matter, by which I mean our part in Nature, and the imminent necessity to attune again to the life rhythms of planet Earth instead of believing stoically that everything is just there to be consumed by our species. For millennia, cultures have cared about the environment, and the secret of their success was a bond with Naturepersonal, emotional, mythical, and experiential. The modern age has tried to replace that with "reason" alone. But being presented graphs of carbon dioxide emissions just doesn't do the trick of getting anyone moving, does it? It just disempowers us; "oh, let them do it! I am no expert." Fact is, "they" don't know either just how complex the interconnections of the elements of life are, and "they" don't really change our self-destructive course either. It takes all of us to do something, and what stimulates us to get going is beauty, emotion, and personal experience.
As for freedom, our media keep telling us that we live in the free Western world and that nobody ever was luckier. We have credit cards and smartphones, don't we? Just how "free" we really are you can tell in the moment we lose them. There is a new term for this dawning among sociologists and psychologists: it's addiction. What freedom really means I understood when I read Wilfred Pelletier's book No Foreign Land. Pelletier (1927 - 2000) was a Native American who tried to live in the white man's world for a few years. When returning to the Odawa reservation he fully recognized what freedom means to the Natives; he could wander in the wilderness with no need to "return" somewhere, he had everything he neededhis survival skills and a knifeand could be home everywhere in Nature. No dependence on gadgets, social status, an income, or bureaucracy. Life can be simple. And joyful.
And joy is something that TreeGirl really can teach! It is amazing to see someone moving in the wildwood with such trust and openness. I think she has found a way to revive that same joy and gratitude that people in ancient times all around the planet felt in their traditional sacred groves. Because in early history, humankind contemplated the eternal questions, meditated and prayed, and made offerings of gratitude to the life force mostly beneath trees. Trees have always been regarded as kind bridges between the human world and Spirit. Even the white marble splendour of the Acropolis was only there to honour Athena's sacred Olive tree which stood in the centre of her sanctuary. In fact, all deities of ancient Greece had their associated tree species, and ethnologists deem it highly probable that the Greek pantheon evolved from tree spirits in the first place. Rome itself had just as many sacred groves as the Celtic and Germanic woodland tribes. And so did the ancient HebrewsChristian anthropologists of the 19th century were surprised to see just how much tree worship there was in the Holy Land, and how peacefully it co-existed with early monotheism. And Jesus was a teacher of the ancient Olive grove of Gethsemaneafter the last supper "he went out and made his way as usual to the Mount of Olives, accompanied by the disciples" (Lk. 22. 39).
Through outdoor education, psychology has recently begun to recognize that all living beings are a part of us; a child discovers a new part of herself every time she encounters an animal or a plant. And often children express this in play, by wanting to be a tiger or a horse, a bird or a crocodile. Soon after "mama" and "papa", animal names form part of the earliest vocabulary of toddlers. And although animals are closer to us emotionally, plants and trees too create unique individual sensations of self in a child (and in grown-ups too, if we care to recognize them). In the presence of an Oak we discover new variations of our sense of identity. There is another world waiting for us at the Redwood, just as rooted in our ancient soul, just as unawakened. Elm, Beech and Maple too are gates to other dimensions of our greater self. Beneath each tree there is an experience of self-discovery awaiting usare you ready to explore it? TreeGirl surely lives by example. The Earth is not just physical; it is also a landscape of the soul. The segregation of inner and outer is imaginary.
I also give TreeGirl ten out of ten for photography. Light, contrast, composition are all highly enjoyable. But most noteworthy is the fact thatwhile trees in Western art have for centuries merely provided backgrounds for anthropocentric sceneshere trees are never reduced to serve the human story. I delight how in each photo the human figure gracefully finds their place within the tree, adding a new note to the tree's song, with a heart always beating to the tree's drum.
Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
TreeGirl's World Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 1: Lovers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
African Baobab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Antarctic Beech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Big Leaf Maple. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Blackbutt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Boab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Brush Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
California Bay Laurel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
California Buckeye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Canyon Live Oak. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Coast Redwood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Chapter 2: Tree Affinity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
European Beech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
European Yew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Fony Baobab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Giant Sequoia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Grandidier's Baobab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
Green Fig. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Huon Pine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Indian Banyan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
Kauri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
King Billy Pine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Chapter 3: Touch Trees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Little Leaf Linden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
Mangrove. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Mesquite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Monterey Cypress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
Morton Bay Fig. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
Mountain Ash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
Northern Rata. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Nyala. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Olive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Oregon White Oak. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Chapter 4: The Goddess and the Green Man. . . 110
Pacific Dogwood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Red Bloodwood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Red Cedar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
River Red Gum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Silver Beech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Silver Gimlet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
Sitka Spruce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Small Leaved Fig. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Spotted Gum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Sweet Chestnut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Chapter 5: Rewilding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Sycomore Fig. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Tallowwood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
Tanoak. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Totara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Two-Needle Pinyon Pine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Welwitschia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Western Hemlock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
Western Redcedar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
White Birch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
White Willow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Afterword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Tallest and the Smallest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Scientific Names Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Indigenous Names Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
author of Wild Girls and Conscience Point Erica Abeel
“This delightfully unique book about a woman's love affair with trees argues for returning to a conscious dialog with Nature and appreciating its mysteries. The stunning photos of the author's naked body all but merging with Baobob trees and other magnificent specimens, offers a romance of the senses. TREEGIRL yields the perfect antidote to our technology-addicted world.”
"TreeGirl is a force of nature. She is a powerful friend and ally to trees. If we are to survive, we all must fall in love with the natural world, and fight to protect it. TreeGirl helps us to remember our place in the natural world."
"Julianne Skai Arbor is a tree huggerliterally, and for good reason: she understands the ecological, cultural, and economic importance of trees. This book offers far more than photography: it deeply informs us about treestheir botanical characteristics and their vital place in human culture for countless millennia. The result is a masterpiece that defies categorization but is easy to enjoy."
author of Tending the Wild: Native American Kn M. Kat Anderson
"Julianne Skai Arbor’s stunning photographs state grand truths that the earth is our mother,we are part of her, and she has much divine wisdom to teach us. Arbor’s naked, dependent vulnerability speaks courageously to the unmasking of our society’s illusion that setting aside more wilderness and our technological fixes are the answers to solving our environmental crisis and biodiversity losses. They are not. This beautiful book is about building a new indigenous culture of placewhere treegirls and treeboys become household words and our species is called to move ever more frequently from our heads down into our heartsrestoring that ancient, deep, rich and essential personal relationship with nature using the full spectrum of our humanity. It is us as artists, stewards, storytellers, foragers, mythmakers, singers, and reverencers who in reuniting with naturewill ultimately heal the planet and ourselves."
Thomas Pakenham – author of Meetings with Remarkable Trees
Julianne Skai Arbor's beautiful photography and writing serve as an inspiring reminder that the more-than-human world awaits not only our appreciation but also our intimate friendship.
author of Drawdown:: The Most Comprehensiv Paul Hawken
“The juxtapositions inTree Girl create tension, a startled moment where different forms of beauty and life are
unexpectedly entwined, where the ancient meets the pristine, old bark and new skin. With her loving embrace,
Julianne melts the categories with which we divide this worldtrees, humans, soil, sky. Seeing nature and life as
other than ourselves allowed humans to dominate the earth and desecrate the forests, fields, and waters without a
qualm. Some may ask why a woman nude in a tree? The physical and venerable glory of two sinuous life forms,
human and arboreal, asks us why are we denuding the earth. If we lose the forests, we are all lost.
Think of Tree Girl as a vulnerable prayer to what makes us humane and kind.”
author of Active Hope and Coming Back to Life Joanna Macy
Founder and Photographer - the Embody Project Erica Mueller
"A brilliant body of work! Intimate Encounters with Wild Nature is the perfect marriage: gorgeous nude fine-art photography book meets arboriculturist's master class. TreeGirl has set a new precedent for us all to seeand knowourselves as one with wild nature."
"Trees and naked bodies – why put them together? The environment is under siege, trees need protection and need our respect and love. Do we need to add human bodies into the picture? Pick up TreeGirl, look through its amazing photographs, and the answer is clear. By photographing trees in conjunction with her naked body, the author has created a work that is moving and meaningful. Our shared creatureliness, vulnerability and interconnectedness with the life of trees is conveyed with great beauty and power. It encourages us to let go of our shyness, our inhibitions, to instead celebrate our relationship to these mighty beings who are so peaceful and yet so powerful. In this large, full-colour book, Julianne Skai Arbor has combined her knowledge as an arborist with her skills as a photographer, and has travelled the world, seeking out the most extraordinary trees to photograph with her body. The result is truly breath-taking. The fact that all the photographs feature the same person reinforces the sense of relationship between tree and human. Just as in a story we can identify more fully if there is one main character, so we journey around the world with Julianne, encountering amazing specimens, which often seem to tower over Julianne, or which enfold her tenderly in their embrace. The book begins with an excellent foreword by Fred Hageneder, known to many as an expert on Yew trees, and then provides us with insights into tree-lore, the botany of trees, and their spiritual dimensions. This book is full of beautiful photography, but it is much more than that. It brings messages, inspiration, and a determination that we should do more to protect these beings that we might call our brothers or sisters, but are perhaps our elders. We have Julianne’s book on our coffee table. Visitors are immediately drawn to it and love to leaf through it, gasping at the surprises it holds in store for them. We just enjoy watching their reactions to this very unusual book!”
What makes TreeGirl: Intimate Encounters with Wild Nature unique:
1. The Tree-Human Connection: Although there are a number of photography books with trees as their subject, none of them address the symbiosis and enchantment of the human–tree relationship. None truly demonstrate through words or pictures the profound, intimate, or sensual connection humans haveand can have psychologically, emotionally, physically, and spirituallydirectly with trees.
2. The Holistic Perspective: This is a new perspective on trees, bridging art with ecospirituality, ecopsychology, and ecology.
3. The Ecopsychology Perspective: Ecopsychology is an increasingly important fields of psychology, sociology and environmental awareness. Ecopsychology, in essence, is the discipline ofunderstanding of our modern cultural disconnection from the Earth. The conscious and unconscious knowing that our home, planet Earth, is being destroyed, is causing massive psychological grief, anxiety, denial, trauma, dysfunction, as well as physical illness. Ecotherapy is the therapeutic practice: Nature is healing because we are Nature, and essentially, ecotherapy is coming back home. This is the first book of its kind, to combine ecopsychology with art.
4. The Female Perspective: Most authors and photographers of tree books are men. TreeGirl is written and photographed from the voice and perspective of a female who vulnerably shares herself with the audience, both physically and spiritually. The passion, love, and endearment that inherently exists between women and Nature, inclusive of an ecofeminist and goddess cultural perspective, is reflected.
5. The Tree Professional Perspective: Most notably, although many of tree book authors are renowned in their fields of photography and many of them are tree enthusiasts, none of them are certified arborists with the International Society of Arboriculture, with the knowledge of a trained tree professional. This book contains detailed and organized ecological and ethnobotanical information, researched in depth, in an easy-to-read reference format not found in any similar book. Additionally, TreeGirl showcases certain tree species not found in any of these books, which makes it attractive to consumers who already own some of these books.
6. Sensual and Fine Art Nude Photography Perspective: The quality of TreeGirl photographs is higher for many of the species presented (in some cases, the same individual tree pictured) than similar books in this genre. It is the incorporation of fine-art nude photography that makes TreeGirl stand out from every other book. When comparing the other tree book photos, which include clothed people standing in awe to the side of the tree, there is something unnatural that detracts from the aesthetic of the image: The tree becomes a specimen, and the image loses its ability to be admired as an art piece hung on the wall. The classic nude is feminine, organic, and anonymous; it could be anybody––even you. This makes the message and the image more attractive: the reader gets lost in the mystery and romance of the scene. There is a resurgence of fine art nude photography as a genre, especially in nature, especially by female photographers. http://www.modelsociety.com
7. Forest Therapy Perspective: Shinrin yoku and forest bathing are gaining popularity outside of Japan as an ecotherapy trend even popular with resorts and spas, as found in many online and print magazines, including O- The Oprah Magazine. There are no books yet written specifically about Forest Therapy, except for an esoteric Japanese publication by one of the doctor’s who is researched its medical benefits. Although TreeGirl: Intimate Encounters with Wild Nature only has part of the writing dedicated to Forest Therapy (or what the author calls Forest Ecotherapy), the entire book holds a sensory and therapeutic theme. The last chapter on rewilding and forest therapy is a forerunner to what could be a follow up publication.
8. Ethnobotany and Natural History Perspective: There are no other tree photography books that include the sciences of natural history and ethnobotany to this extent.
This book is an invitation for you to recover your ancient bond with wild Natureto rediscover trees as a source of intimate comfort, sensorial pleasure, and unexpected companionship, as a sanctuary from the madness of our modern, civilized world. It is an invitation to rewild your body and consciousness, to reforest your soul.
Therefore, in the context of this book, the wild, wildness, and wild Nature refer not to a Nature devoid of all human culture, but rather a Nature absent of an industrialized civilization that values exploitation, domination, and control over "the other" instead of coexistence within the family of things. Nature is wildness; wildness is Nature; Nature is the life force. The wild, in this sense, refers to lands, waters, and beings who have their own freedom, will6, and integritythose that have not been subjugated by humans. This wildness is the same mysterious life-force energy and matter that is continually creating life on Earth and infinite solar systems; we humans can neither fully scientifically define nor tame it all. In fact, we must return to a relationship of alliancea conscious dialogue with Nature of asking questions and appreciating the mystery. At the same time, we must not romanticize the wild; for this same wildness holds the power of creation as well as destruction. The Earth has its own set of "rules"; we must come into accordance with them, for the Earth with all of its abundance and power demands a participation of reciprocity.
To reunite and belong once again to wild Nature is to choose to leave behind the artificial and managed world we humans have blindly constructed, consisting of automated buttons, touch screens, personal identification numbers, manipulated images, and decimal points. It means finding refuge from the built environment's light and noise pollution, chemical offgassing, and electromagnetic buzzing. By re-immersing ourselves in wild Nature, we desert the domesticated mind and return gracefully to the soul's vocabulary. Here we find sanctuary, freedom from the deadness of human construction, and relief from the insanity of our technology-addicted lives and the control we are constantly attempting to maintain. Our modern brains do not understand it cognitively, but our souls recognize the language of the Earth: the natural patterns, cycles, seasons, growth and decay, rhythms, systemsthe relationships, the deep intertwinings. Our modern cultural consciousness is starved for and fascinated by the mysterious, complex beauty of the thriving, sometimes seemingly chaotic creative life force that is beyond our control. We hunger for a deep, rich engagement and interaction with that which is ancient to our mind, heart, body, and spirit.
Such unexpected stimulation can affect us so deeply that we are able, for a few moments, to abandon our minds, release our isolation, and embrace the pleasures of shared aliveness as devoted companions, as lovers with the rest of the animate world. This is a kind of intimacy with wild Nature, a romance of the senses that can at times be physically sensual, passionate, and even erotic.8When we allow ourselves to be seduced by the sensuality of wild Nature, these raw experiences can nurture and enliven the body and reawaken the soul. This experience of surrender is akin to falling into the arms of our beloved. There we can recalibrate our attention to a state of enthralled reawakening and engage in secret conversation with the living Earthuntil we once again feel we belong at home. This is a sacred and dynamic conversation with Nature as mutual subject, not object. It is the true act of intimacy as an intentional collaborative act of admiration, adoration, respect, humility, vulnerability, caretaking, and reciprocity. To be alive on the planet is to surrender to being her partner. To be in service of the Earth is to be enraptured by her.
Imagine if we truly open our hearts to Nature in all its wildness and fall in love over and over again with the sacredness of this life force? I invite us modern humans to become re-enchanted with Nature, to experience intimacy and soulful engagement with trees and our more-than-human companions on this Earth. I invite us to live life embodied in our animal forms, and in our animal psyches, in a affectionate alliance with the animate land, soil, rocks, water, plants, fungi, lichen, animals, and invisible, microscopic worldthe Kin-dom of Life.9
I have found my secret love in the plant kin-dom of trees. I encourage you to find your secret love in Nature as well to find your wild within. As inspiration, I am offering you an anthology of my own private encounters with trees around the world, captured in intimate self-portrait photographs and photographs of others. Each photograph is accompanied by a short story of my encounter and relationship with the tree.
I have organized the tree photos in alphabetical order by their common name, but I also include the Latin, or scientific, name. Each of the fifty species is accompanied by a natural history to fulfill your curiosity, including other known names for the tree, distribution of the species, ecosystem type, maximum recorded age and size, distinctive characteristics, animal community, traditional and modern uses (including uses for medicine, food, fiber, tools and objects, art and ceremony, shelter), and threats to the species' survival. The better we understand our wild neighbors friends, ancient elders, relationsthe better we can appreciate, value, and be of service to these trees.
The tree species bookend five essays that each tell a different story about the human-tree relationship. "Lovers" tells of my own sensual and transmutational encounter with a tree; "Tree Affinity" explains the biology and psychology of why we are attracted to trees; "Touch Trees" examines a holistic view of arboriculture the science of taking care of trees; and "The Goddess and the Green Man" tells the story of my own spiritual encounters with trees as these female and male Nature archetypes. The last chapter, "Rewilding," offers some accessible ways in which you can connect with Nature to rewild yourself.
Ecopsychology, in essence, is the discipline ofunderstanding our modern disconnection from the Earth. The conscious and unconscious knowing that our home, planet Earth, is being destroyed, is causing massive psychological grief, anxiety, denial, trauma, dysfunction, as well as physical illness. Ecotherapy is the therapuetic practice: Nature is healing because we are Nature, and essentially, ecotherapy is coming Home. I hope this collection of images and essays will inspire you to connect with trees, to fall in love with the wild, and to explore your own intimate encounters with Nature. As a photographer, I place myself in the landscape to show that Nature, in its inherent wildness, is where we belong sometimes naked, sometimes vulnerable, in humility, with our shoes off and the wind blowing against our skin, ears open, listening o our lover, with all our heart and soul.
8 The concept of eros, while it may initially take the form of passionate desire and love, it is more truly a desire for "psychic relatedness"for interconnection and interaction with other sentient beings. Ultimately, it is the desire for wholeness.
 Derrick Jensen, author of The Myth of Human Supremacy, A Language Older Than Words, Endgame, and Strangely Like War: The Global Assault on Forests.
"A brilliant body of work! TreeGirl: Intimate Encounters with Wild Nature is the perfect marriage: gorgeous nude fine-art photography book meets arboriculturist's master class. TreeGirl has set a new precedent for us all to seeand knowourselves as one with wild nature."
 Erica Mueller, Founder and Photographer - the Embody Project
 Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute; author of Our Renewable Future, Peak Everything and The Party's Over.
 Dr. Joe Hinds, Psychologist & Psychotherapist, co-author of Ecotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
"Julianne Skai Arbor's indefatigable photographic and personal journey is a visually honest record that both transcends and concretizes the sometimes ambiguously employed phrase “nature connection.” Ecopsychologically speaking, the intimate and loving proximity of her nude body to the robustness and grace of grand-old trees creates a modern Celtic Ogham."
 Dr. Jorge Conesa-Sevilla, Professor of Psychology, National University; Founder, International Ecopsychology Society
“Julianne Skai Arbor's beautiful photography and writing serve as an inspiring reminder that the more-than-human world awaits not only our appreciation but also our intimate friendship.”
 Tina Fields, Ph.D., Chair of M.A. Program in Ecopsychology at Naropa University
 Erica Abeel, author of Wild Girls and Conscience Point
The Well-Read Naturalist.com Johannes E. Ruitta
A conservationist and art photographer explores the erotic aspects of trees. For more than 20 years, Arbor has been creating intimate photos of trees and people together. The humans, which include herself and others, are nearly always nude, and the folds and curves of their bodies harmonize with the sinew of the trees. In one, the author prostrates herself, as if on an altar, along a platform at the base of a 285-foot mountain ash; in others, she reclines on a willow that appears as though it's bending to drink at a nearby pool or nestles in the crook of a windblown Cyprus, the curve of her back in perfect accord with the outermost bough's lurch to the left. In one black-and-white photo, she molds herself to the basal furl of an enormous fig tree, pressing her palms and her cheek against its bark, looking like something from the pages of Ovid's Metamorphosis. "For tens of thousands of years," she writes, "people took refuge under trees, held council under trees, and depended upon trees for survival." Indeed, from even earlier. Anyone perusing Arbor's book can't help but feel eerily reminded of humanity's distant ancestors—the earliest hominids—and how some of them would have lived nearly their whole lives in the vanished oaks and beeches of the Pliocene ("we lived in kinship with them," she achingly writes of that forgotten past). Sometimes the models' fetal poses in the trees drift toward the sentimental, à la Anne Geddes' work, and some readers may be amused by the fact that sometimes the models are difficult to locate, bringing to mind Where's Waldo? But such levity isn't unwelcome, and it serves only to intensify the fact that humans can appear eerily camouflaged in nature. Fortunately, Arbor has a remarkable eye for how light and shadow shape the viewer's experience of texture, and some pictures are every bit as powerful and haunting as Edward Weston's images of bell peppers—or, for that matter, of trees. Forest giants from Tasmania to South Africa to Anatolia have never seemed so alive. A vital, visually stunning photographic volume.
TreeGirl: Intimate Encounters with Wild Nature 5 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 1 reviews.
MrPooh More than 1 year ago
TreeGirl's book is a tour de force of her life's work. The book combines fine art photography, botany, and spirituality, all in a well-written and lovely well-thought-out design. The photos are truly stunning and beautiful. You can see and feel her love of trees.