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Els Barents on 'Forest'.

The acclaimed Dutch photography curator Els Barents considers the 'Forest' book as a 'strong beauty'. She remarks:'Forest looks very precise and very refined, the book is well printed too. Going back and forth thru it made me wonder what I really was looking at? The tree stumps at the cover image do remind me of the pictures of invalids returning from war. Hospitalized as these leafless trees are, supported by crutches and wrapped in white bandages. Thru the whole book sounds the command: ‘grow’, ‘grow’, ‘grow’! But it remains unclear if this order will be followed. In the contrary, your images raise serious doubt about the outcome of these carefully but rudely executed transplantations. Is there perhaps too much belief in the strength of nature in the minds of city builders? One can cut out stones, stack them and build a strong city, but can we do the same with trees? In your book a designed place for a tree is very different from a naturally grown tree. Your definitions are absolutely clear. So Forest is about disharmony, about a total design for living so absolute that one is ready to kill nature for it. It is about impatience too, about creating conditions without understanding them. And about much more aspects concerning life.'