Silver Pine Trees

"Through exposures with large-format negatives and methodical notes in moving images, with motifs from Swedish nature reserves, the artist duo Hagren/Bela make visible a series of black-and-white snapshots of the rare elements of dead wood in our forest landscapes. Creating haunting images by exposing prints in the darkroom using sparks and flames from a lighter allude to how the pine tree, by being ravaged by lightning strikes and fires, increases its resin production in such a way that it ultimately embalms itself. And from the artists photographs, filmed sequences and resin casts – where traces of something elusive are fixed – the silver pines rise as primeval forest-like tree relics; as remnants of coniferous forest with an ability to abolish the boundary between living and dead. Perhaps the portrayed trees, with such an age that their trunks shimmer silver-gray, can be seen as reminders of the transience of life? But in their state of limbo, the dead wood also constitutes a prerequisite for survival, as invaluable habitats for around half of all red-listed species in our forests.” - Erik Anderman

A rumour of silver and toxicity haunts this investigation of a chemically contaminated East German reservoir nicknamed Silbersee (Silver Lake), near the Wolfen film factory. For years, photographic waste was discharged into the lake - so much so that one could develop photographs directly in its waters. In this project we use photography, video and graphite drawing. The interplay of these mediums raise  thoughts about the properties of photography, such as the moment a picture is taken in relation to the time it  takes to draw, the mechanical versus the handmade, the unpredictability of the aged photographic material in relation to conscious decisions in drawing, the precision in factory production versus the unpredictability and  consequences of emissions in the area.‍