Time Telling by Lichen | Gouache and Ink on Paper | 9 x 6 inches | 2023
i climb into their branches
use my mouth
to wet a patch of lichen
soft gray-green
unfurling
spit bubbles stretching
and merging as tiny fingers
extend
Original Art by Chloe L Wanaselja: ‘Time Telling by Lichen,’ gouache and ink on paper, 9 x 6 inches (2023).
In drawing and painting trees I have an opportunity to share space, to slow down and observe the complex conversation and movement of a tree, to sink into tree time. As I learn the temperaments of different individuals, their changes across the seasons from many visits, I am invested in their wellbeing, as with any relationship. I learn to hear what they communicate, what I could offer them in thanks for their beauty, their groundedness, their nourishment of their ecological community.
Perspective 1 of original art, ‘Time Telling by Lichen.’
Perspective 2 of original art, ‘Time Telling by Lichen.’
Chloe Wanaselja (she/they) is an artist, activist, and ecologist learning how to build reciprocal relationships with lands and their peoples as a person of European descent.
Europe | Finnic and Baltic tribes (primarily Estonia and Lithuania)
United States
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