An average mature oak tree grows hundreds of thousands of leaves each year. When those leaves fall, their nutrients return to the soil to nourish the tree that grew them, as well as other living things in the forest. 鈥淭hey essentially eat themselves every year,鈥� says artist Clare Hewitt. 鈥淭here are these little symbiotic relationships happening between all of the forest.鈥�
Hewitt produced these oak leaf prints over five years of regular visits to a group of trees tucked within the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research, UK. In 2019, she started spending time there after reading about an epidemic of loneliness in rural areas, suspecting the trees may hold lessons about connection and sharing resources. After enough time spent with them, 鈥測ou come to know them as you would know a friend,鈥� says Hewitt.
She wasn鈥檛 allowed to remove anything from the ecosystem, so the forest became her studio: each fallen leaf was placed on expired photo paper, then exposed to sunlight, before being returned to the oak grove. 鈥淎 lot of the photographic process is a scientific process,鈥� says Hewitt. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really about time and light.鈥�
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The prints are part of a larger exhibition of Hewett鈥檚 tree art titled , at the Impressions Gallery, Bradford, UK, until 23 August, where they appear alongside other work from the grove, including a hand-crafted, biodegradable book made with mushroom-based paper and plant-based inks.
