tree planting
Photographs by Sarah Anne Johnson
October 6 - November 11, 2005
Main Gallery, John Hope Franklin Center
Lunch Conversation
Thursday, October 6
12:00 - 1:30 PM :: 240 Franklin Center
Sarah Anne Johnson (artist), Kim Rorschach (The Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director, Nasher Museum), Kathy Goncharov (adjunct Curator of Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum), Julie Saul (Julie Saul Gallery, NY)
Sponsored by Globalization and the Artist
Opening Reception
Thursday, October 6, 2005
5:30 - 7:30 PM :: Franklin Center Gallery
(Buses available at 6:30 PM to THE FOREST IN THE MACHINE Film series to complement the Nasher's inaugural exhibition, The Forest: Politics, Poetics and Practice)
tree planting is sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary & International Studies, the Duke University Center for International Studies and the Canadian Studies Center.
Artist's Statement
Planting trees in northern Manitoba is a rite of passage for many young adults in Canada. Some do it to pay their way through University, for others the motivation is travel. Most of us swear by the end of the season that we will never return, but we always do. The reason we all come back is for the “good times,” the strong sense of community and building something lasting and important together. We also return for the hard times. Once it is finished we are left with a wonderful memory, a new sense of maturity and self worth with emotional rewards that stay with us forever. This is why we keep going back: because it makes us feel so damn good.
Throughout art history there has been a great deal of work investigating the notion of the sublime and the search for a utopian society. My project is, in a way, a response to that work. I believe this enterprise to be one of sublime intervention, a pure gesture and a truly authentic moment between people and their environment.
I have always been fascinated by how art has been used throughout history to educate. This is one of the elements I am exploring in conjunction with the concept of the utopian community. I admit to having a quiet political agenda. Our society sorely needs to be awakened to the empowering emotion born in good old- fashioned hard work for an important cause.
Showing pictures of the “real” world mixed with photographs of dioramas and figures that I have built is a crucial element. The pictures of the “real world” ground the work in reality, while the pictures of the dioramas express my love of the memory of the actual event. These two ways of picture-making depend on each other to flesh out the entire experience.
-- Sarah Anne Johnson, 2005
For more information on this and other exhibits at the Franklin Center, contact Pamela Gutlon, pgutlon@duke.edu.