TREE
Collaboration with Masnoor Ramli Mahmud [Matahati]
video
8:52
2005, Malaysia
‘TREE’ is a collaborative video work by Victoria Cattoni with Malaysian artist Masnoramli Mahmud. The work is a montage of image, sound, text and performance structured around a simple question:
‘if you were a tree, what kind would you be…’
The video acts as an imaginative trigger, inviting the viewer to identify with a tree of his/her choosing. Moving from narration by adults and children who describe and perform their ‘tree’, to spoken and visual prose that utilises the physical dimensions of a tree as a metaphor for human existence, the tree becomes an embodiment of ourselves in relation to others - trees and humans.
…are you alone, or among others, touching one another?
the other trees, are they of your species, family……do you take water from smaller trees, or do your roots dig down below the surface seeking a source shared by others whose roots also delve deep?
This work was first shown at the Art for Nature Exhibition 2005 ‘The Power of Dreaming: Taman Sari, Gardens of Delight and Identity’ held at Rimbun Dahan, Kuang, Malaysia.
Download: Prose - Tree (32 KB)