FORESTS SPEAKERS SERIES: The Photography of Trees and Forests

March 25, 7:30 pm

To view this talk, please visit: PHOTOGRAPHY OF TREES

The Photography of Trees and Forests

Please join us for an evening of art and conversation around trees and forests with acclaimed photographers Maria Whiteman, Diane Cook, and Len Jenshel.

Maria Whiteman, "Into the Forest"

Abstract: Photography, intermedia, and site-specific installation art are an integral part of visual artist Maria Whiteman's practice. The past three years have taken her deeper into the woods, filming and photographing what it feels like to touch and breathe with fungi and trees. "Into the Forest" documents her studies of the woods in Indiana, sifting and evaluating the intertwining ecology between fungi, plants, and trees. Whiteman's striking images capture the intricacies of interconnectedness between the fungal and arboreal worlds, where growth and decomposition take part in the symbiotic relationships of the forest's wood wide web.

Bio: Maria Whiteman is the Artist in Social Practice at Indiana University/Bloomington's Environmental Resilience Institute. Her photography, video, and installation art have been widely exhibited in the US, Canada, and Europe. Most recently, the Grunwald Art Gallery at Indiana University exhibited "Living with Mycelia," and her work "Mountain Pine Beetle and Roadside Kestrel" premiered at the Houston Cinema Arts Festival and Rice Media Center. Her photo-essay "Into the Forest" appears in the Duke University journal Polygraphy.

Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, "The Story of Wise Trees"

Abstract: Photographers Diane Cook and Len Jenshel will tell the story of their book Wise Trees. This work documents over 50 remarkable trees from around the world, trees that have witnessed great moments in history, survived catastrophic events, and nurtured spiritual connections. Along with their stunning photographs, Cook and Jenshel will speak to the extraordinary stories these trees have to tell. At a time when the planet is losing 40 million trees a day, Wise Trees reconnects humanity with the enduring roles trees have played in life on Earth: "Trees have been and continue to be our silent partners in life, and now at this crucial tipping point in combating climate change, they are essential in determining our future."

Bio: Diane Cook and Len Jenshel are two of America's foremost landscape photographers. Contributing photographers to National Geographic magazine for the last two decades, they have received a Guggenheim Fellowship as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Graham Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Design Trust for Public Space. Editions of their photographs also include Travels in the American West, Hot Spots: America's Volcanic Landscape, and Aquarium.