The leaf that trembles on the edge of speaking
Pine needles and pins on cotton cloth
700 x 30 cm
Sussex, UK
2013
 

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John Wilkes, fundador de Foundation For Water, fue un escultor y científico que dedicó su vida a la investigación de la revitalización del agua. Dentro de sus investigaciones destacan sus estudios de metamorfosis en plantas y animales, siguiendo la Fenomenología Goetheana. El taller de Metamorfosis de las Plantas que dictaba John Wilkes en la Escuela de Arte y Escultura de Emerson College fueron esenciales en mi formación y posterior práctica artística.

 

En el año 2013, a dos años del fallecimiento de John, realicé una residencia de creación autogestionada en la Fundación para el Agua.

 

Durante la residencia ayudé en labores de orden de la colección de huesos de la fundación y realicé la obra titulada THE LEAF THAT TREMBLES ON THE EDGE OF SPEAKING / LA HOJA QUE TIEMBLA AL BORDE DEL HABLA —una serie de composiciones desarrolladas a partir de agujas de pino dispuestas en una secuencia metamórfica sobre tela de algodón.

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Esta obra evoca tanto grafías como una colección entomológica. Más tarde he vuelto a insistir en este cruce entre el mundo vegetal y el mundo de los bichos. De alguna forma, podría decirse que las patas de los bichos tienen algo del mundo vegetal y viceversa.

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This work was developed in East Sussex whilst in residency at Foundation For Water, founded by John Wilkes and George Adams in 2008, after the pioneering work of researcher Theodor Schwenk and others. John Wilkes was a sculptor and scientist who dedicated his life to research & revitalization of water. The courses that John taught, at the School of Visual Arts at Emerson College, on the metamorphosis of plants and animals were essential for the development of my work. 

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In 2013, two years after John's passing, I carried out a self directed artistic residency at the Foundation for Water. During the residency I helped organize the foundation's animal bone collection and created a piece titled THE LEAF THAT TREMBLES ON THE EDGE OF SPEAKING —a series of compositions with pine needles, arranged in a metamorphic sequence, on cotton fabric. 

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Each leaf is made out of five needles, which have been bent and tied as far as the material allows. The first time I handled these needles, I become fascinated by their waxy coating, which made them incredibly flexible even once they had dried out. The resulting sequence is a composition of 50 evolving shapes. 

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This work stands as a living archive, evoking an imagined script as much as an entomological collection. The cross over between plant and animal world surfaces again and again in my later works, such as in ESSAYS # 2.

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Photos by Victoria Cid