La raíz de uno es uno

The intervention took place during an artist residency at Valdelarte, a centre of art and the environment in the Sierra de Huelva, as part of the Artierra project.

When I arrived at Valdelarte I went for a walk to get to know the place, and I found a horizontal pine tree, which caught my attention in itself. The tree was trapped by vegetation and, having no room to grow, its trunk had developed horizontally, looking for sunlight. Strange. And I noticed a strong branch growing vertically right in the centre of it, the same size as the trees around it, as if it were a separate tree. It was a situation unique to this place, and it inspired me to create a work especially for this tree and to intervene in a very subtle way.

To make the intervention we looked in the forest for a strong chestnut tree that was dry and already dead, to bring it and give it life in the work. Placed upside down it became roots, divided from the “trunk” above by the horizontal line of the pine, like a landscape: under the earth, the roots; and the vertical branch of the pine, presented as a separate tree.

The work is painted in chrome paint, graduated, which reflects the colours around it and the people who come close to the branches.

In the earth I created a circle, made with the debris that had fallen from the trees and with the earth around the tree, to give it volume and to create a nest for it; and over the course of the year the circle gradually filled with black charcoal.