Montenach Natural Reserve France Ink on paper – 5,11 X 8,26 In
Just before my return for a month in Mulhouse, I discovered this forest a few kilometers from Luxembourg.
Very small in surface area (107 hectares), it first of all offers a small wood, then reveals fabulous landscapes: sunny limestone lawns, fresh valleys and rocky outcrops, punctuated by thousands of flowers and butterflies… I am literally in another world, a Garden of Eden, as it may have existed 7,000 years ago, cut off from civilization! This forest allows the development of more than 500 plant species, including 24 species of wild orchids, more than 600 species of butterflies, birds, insects (including lizards and salamanders, etc…).
At this point, I am delighted and at the same time apprehensive to discover in January 2020 the Hambach forest in North Rhine-Westphalia, which is in danger of being deforested at the end of 2020 in order to exploit a coal mine there.
What is impressive is that today the main forests that protect our planet from global warming and that shelter many animal and plant species are condemned and destroyed and give way to livestock, industrial zones and housing.
We ourselves are living more and more free from the presence of nature and its future.
When I discovered the Biesetal nature reserve, I remembered a quote from Karl von Linné that I had discovered at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, an exhibition of which dealt with the impoverishment of our biodiversity :”In the smallest things, nature shows the greatest wonders of all“. It is by entering this forest with large trees, and lush vegetation, that we suddenly realize the meaning of this quote and the richness of nature, but also the loss of nature and biodiversity in most of our living areas.
What is crazy is that nowadays we talk more about “progress”, about this stubbornly blind word than about “beauty”. On what occasion are we still talking about beauty?
At a time when climate change is a major issue that requires us to rethink our ways of life, the beauty of nature can invite us to understand the future of life.
After immersing myself in the primary forests of tomorrow in the Black Forest for several days and discovering these areas protected from all human intervention (Simmonswald /Sankt-Peter) where nature is gradually taking on a wild form, I decided to leave for a more urban world. Berlin is perfect for the rest of this journey. This city allows me to compare these experiences of nature with the reality of a world city with just under 4 million inhabitants. These first days in Berlin and its various districts allow me to refine my vision by visiting a number of exhibitions and museums.
A temporary exhibition is particularly interesting to me as it is dedicated to the explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. This character, who founded the University of Berlin, is currently being celebrated in Germany and around the world around the 250th anniversary of his birth. This is a perfect opportunity to discover this character and follow the guidelines of my trip to Germany. By walking along the aisles of the exhibition dedicated to Humboldt at the Museum of German History in Berlin, you can find an echo of the current awareness of the need to safeguard biodiversity. It was a bit like the Greta Thunberg of the 19th century and above all it arouses my curiosity by its look at nature and territories at the turn of the 19th century. His approach to science by integrating Fine Arts, botany, geology or mineralogy seems interesting to me at the moment with regard to the artistic themes I am developing. The questions raised following this visit give me new angles of approach to deal with the primary forests of tomorrow in Germany.
Following this visit and the discovery of Humboldt’s cosmology, the opportunity was perfect to discover the forests near Berlin. The U-Bahn transports me from a world city to an almost virgin forest in Brandenburg (Briesetal). The Briesetal forest is considered a natural biodiversity reserve (Naturschutzgebiet).
Trees standing in water in a swamp area – Briesetal north of Berlin, Germany – 22.11.2019)
The discovery of this biosphere reserve allows me to collect the pictures for a new series of drawings around forests and natural reserves while applying the principle of artistic geography. I see this artistic geography as an aesthetic capture of the world. After visiting tomorrow’s primary forests in the Black Forest, I am now in this Brandenburg Biosphere Reserve and where I can now put into perspective the extraordinary richness of Humboldt’s graphic works, which can now be embodied in various plastic stories.
Attempting to represent the “Urwald von morgen” is one of these stories.
Information on Alexander von Humbolt:
He is a naturalist, geographer, German explorer, but also a draftsman and graphic designer born on 14 September 1769 in Berlin and died in 1859. Through the quality of the topographical surveys and fauna and flora samples taken during his expeditions, he laid the foundations for scientific explorations. He applied to the Earth the ancient Greek vision of the order of the cosmos (the harmony of the universe), suggesting that universal laws applied to the apparent chaos of the earthly world as well. Humboldt then suggests that when contemplating the beauty of the cosmos, one can obtain personal inspiration and a beneficial, albeit subjective, awareness of life and nature.
“Urwald von morgen” – 5,11 X 8,26 In – Chinese Ink on Moleskin Paper – Simonswald, Germany – 2019 “Urwald von morgen” – 5,11 X 8,26 In – Chinese Ink on Moleskin Paper – Simonswald, Germany – 2019 “Urwald von morgen” – 5,11 X 8,26 In – Chinese Ink on Moleskin Paper – Simonswald, Germany – 2019 “Urwald von morgen” – 5,11 X 8,26 In – Chinese Ink on Moleskin Paper – Simonswald, Germany – 2019 “Urwald von morgen” – 5,11 X 8,26 In – Chinese Ink on Moleskin Paper – Simonswald, Germany – 2019
Bannwälderforests are exciting places. For here the forest may be anything, but above all, wild forest. Fallen trees, skeletal tree trellis, deadwood overgrown with ferns and lichens, bizarre rhizomes and impenetrable shrubbery. Bannwälder are the archetypes of the Black Forest. Wild, powerful and magical at the same time. In them grow the primeval forests of tomorrow. On a spell forest tour you can feel the pulse of the jungle.
