Replacing the drawn forests in the natural elements that make them up and trying to find a scenography is perhaps the end of the process?
These drawings of nature must also be understood as the traces of a passage or a transfer from the register of the photographic image to the sensual register of pure drawing where only the density of the layer of Indian ink varies.
It is a transposition of the photographic image (each drawing is the product of a photograph identifying a forest, either in France or in Germany) towards a new generation of drawn images. And it is perhaps the purpose of the process to replace these drawn images within the natural elements that inspired them and where we can distinguish vegetation, expanses, reliefs and watercourses.
This relationship of transcription of a natural landscape, by means of the graphic line, makes visible but also legible what would otherwise remain chaotic. Landscape drawing is then a way of getting to know the terrain, of identifying the lines of force that structure it and of understanding the history from which it originates.
This photographic exploration of the forests is done in winter, which allows a better understanding of the structuring of trees and lines of force. A quote from David Hockney illustrates this idea: “Those who believe that winter is a time when the world is dead are mistaken. Trees are never as alive as they are in this season. You can practically see their life force. The branches are stretching out in pain toward the light.”
Through these drawings, it is also and above all a way to bring out the atmosphere and the archaic and organic links that we share with the living. The relationship we have with nature currently obliges us to rethink our being to the world as an interiority, and an intimacy to be shared with all living beings. An existential link to nature.
The photos were taken by a photographer friend of mine (Oliver Kramer) whose photographic work is in line with the concerns around nature and landscape. You can follow his abundant work here: https://visualdiary.li/
All pictures were taken in Kandel in the Black Forest.