"The spruce gold"
Inspired by Julia Kropik ;(Blühendes Österreich) article "Wo Schatten ist, ist auch Licht: Was ist das Gute am Fichtensterben".
Where there is light, there must also be shadow, and where there is shadow, there is also light. There is no shadow without light and no light without shadow.
(C.G. Jung)"
Many forests are thinning out more and more. Now you can see it in many places in Austria, wide aisles are being cut into the forest.
But not to harvest wood, these trees have died.
Silvery scrawny figures stand on the slopes in the Alps.
Prolonged drought, storms, forest fires and snow breakage cause stress to the trees, which react to it with premature emergency blossoming.
Climate change with its excesses weakens the trees.
The bark beetle is looking for a home for its family. The spruce bark beetle or copper engraver can smell whether the spruce is in bad shape by means of attractants.
Once it has settled and secretly drilled its breeding channels into the bast, this can have serious consequences for the spruce.
They eat small tunnels into the bast layer and thus damage the tree's important water and nutrient supply.
In the case of a mass infestation, the spruce no longer has a chance, the supply is interrupted and it dies of thirst.
However, long dry periods can also cause the water column to break off, resulting in air bubbles and embolisms. If there is major damage, the tree dies due to hydraulic failure.
The clearing of forests also has a great influence on the hydrological cycle. Our forests are the air-conditioning systems we urgently need when temperatures rise.
Forests as we know them will change, spruce will give way to deciduous trees. The mixed forest is the future.
For us humans this is an economic catastrophe, but for nature it is just another process of change.
A dead tree, the deadwood, provides a habitat for many creatures.
It is a slow change that will last for generations.
Regarding the artwork:
Material: Kozo paper/ Japan dyed black; glue; gold paint.
Size: 36cm width; 22cm height; 2cm thickness.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)