Beauty of the Cycle of Life/Decay

The Banyan Tree in North America is only found in South Florida. The tree is a work of art -- its means of propagation results in gnarled trunks, branches, as well as vines that run down along the bark. Its root system twists along the surface of the ground. Additionally, the Banyan Tree (in conjunction with the humidity of Miami) fosters lichen of different colors -- yielding a mélange of vibrant images.  In this project, I study the leaves of a particular variety of the Banyan Tree -- the Chinese Banyan, of which there are only a relative few in North America.

The pictures in this series transform reality by expanding the leaves’ identity and giving extra information about their features and inner structure. These features become more evident/visible with the background patterns. The images are visual poetry -- multi-level portraits of individual leaves.  At the same time, the decomposition condition of the leaves leads us to ponder decay and death and gives the images a metaphorical meaning. This increases the value of the images -- moving them from pictures with formal virtues into meaningful images speaking about the imperative (for a fulfilling life) to find beauty/poetry in the world.