people, places, things

Reading Forest

Where do ideas come from and why do they persist? How do the structures of society shape environments and create physical and institutional legacies for future generations? This project suggests the cultural process of slow accumulation in the analogy of tree rings — a way to imagine the joint futures of forests and humans.
Commissioned by the National Forest Foundation, the project communicates the work of land managers, forest ecologists and citizens on the future of Lake Tahoe’s surrounding forests. Phrases embedded in these drawings are adapted from science papers, anthropology and religious books, poems and essays, and personal communications from everyday citizens and forest managers.
For the sources of the phrases, click HERE.
For purchase inquiries please contact me HERE.

A public installation at Lake Tahoe is in place through November 2021. For more, see nationalforests.org/readingforest and toddgilens.com/readingforest