I was taking part in BIO25, 25th Biennial of Design, Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana.
Selecting details from Kočevska forest and making a collection of cast objects in silver is an adventure that begins on the boundary of the virgin forest and continues till the edge of the forest where the city begins. It is my personal story about coming closer to the forest.
I visited Kočevska several times, I was exploring, learning and feeling the forest, this self-sustaining organism, and I was making parallels with Kočevska history.
I was faced with traces telling stories about relationships that we have had with the forest and I saw the power of forest occupying the abandoned villages.
Although I selected details from different places representing the diversity of the forest and making structures, textures, patterns and hidden traces of life more visible, I merged into one final object to show the journey beginning the virgin forest, continuing into deep forest and finally the edge of it. By making just one piece I wanted to represent the connections between layers and to see the forest as a big organism with its dimension of time that asks from us a different perception.
The sliver object is presented in a glass tube, which is related to the glass water pipe that was used in Kočevska, to underline the important role of water for the forest itself as well for the people, and to symbolize the universal network of relations.
The work Under the Skin of the Forest was selected for the Museum collection, Museum of Architecture and Design, Ljubljana.
