About

The Lack of Forest is a project for the redevelopment of a devastated forest area destroyed by a hurricane in 2017 in the Tuchola Forest in Poland. The landscape and character of this place changed profoundly: the catastrophe took lives and destroyed peace, altered ways of spending time, and disrupted a sense of identity. It created a feeling of loss that has been collectively and systemically suppressed. Recognizing this as an important point of integration with my new community and of self-discovery in relation to the landscape, I began to visit this visual cemetery, to learn it from the inside. I transformed the Mound of Uprooted Roots into an artistic installation—a place for meetings, conversations, confessions, and ecological education.

The Lack of Forest is about coping with crisis through organic relationships and the emancipation of essential mutuality. It is a work centered on an immense and overwhelming yet muted traumatic event—deprived of language and care—aimed at taming it, naming it, and grasping its meaning. By collaborating with the Forest District, village heads of the surrounding communities, local residents, and invited artists, I connect with the remnants and invite the local community to build relationships with the Lack of Forest. Together, we search for a language that allows us to understand what happened and to better express how we experience everyday life in the Lack of Forest.

At the center of this life stands the Mound—an eco-memorial.