Miss Livena Journal

The Tree of Life

We often forget how important and fragile life is. We rush through life, we rush to work, meetings, appointments... We are dependent on time. What would we do if one day we woke up and time would not exist anymore and we had nowhere to rush to? Would we know how to live?

We occupy our minds with thoughts of past and future, so we would not have to concentrate on the present moment. But in reality the present moment is all we have. By escaping the present, we are waiting for something that will never come. We spend our lives waiting to start living.

Then, look at the tree. Let it teach you being. Let it teach you integrity - to be one, to be yourself, to be real. Let it teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and dying into a problem.

Don’t think, just be – be present with all your being, attention, mind and sensations and you will find yourself in a world where there is no time and no space, there is just light. Connect with the tree and feel it, and you will be amazed how alive it actually is.

Para - The River Red Gum Tree

The para, or River Red Gum Tree, is of great importance to the Arrarnta people. It provides food and wood, as well as a featuring in their mythology and ceremonies.

The River Red Gum is one of the most widely planted eucalyptus in the world. The areas of significance to humans of the River Red Gum include agricultural, ecological, cultural, and recreational.

Red gum is so named for its brilliant red wood, which can range from a slight pink through to almost black, depending on the age and weathering. It is somewhat brittle and is often cross-grained, making hand working difficult. Traditionally used in rot resistant applications like stumps, fence posts and sleepers, more recently it has been recognised in craft furniture for its spectacular deep red colour and typical fiddleback figure. It needs careful selection, as it tends to be quite reactive to changes in humidity (moves about a lot in service). It is quite hard, dense (about 900kg/m3), can take a fine polish and carves well. It is a popular timber for wood turners, particularly if old and well-seasoned. It is also popular for use as firewood. The wood makes fine charcoal, and is successfully used in Brasil for iron and steel production. In addition, this plant is used for beekeeping in Brasil and Australia. Recently, it has been used to produce decks (Patagonian cherry) and wooden floors (Andean cherry).

The speed of growth of the tree makes it a useful plantation timber. Apiarists also use the tree's flowers for honey production. It is also important in supporting the ecology of its habitat through providing food and shelter for breeding. Culturally, the species is an iconic part of Australia. Its leaves have appeared on Australian stamps and is widely recognised due to its widespread range.

The River Red Gum - Eucalyptus Camaldulensis in Kuitpo forest is estimated to be 200 - 300 years old.

The River Red Gum is native to Australia. It is a familiar and iconic tree seen along many watercourses right across inland Australia. The tree produces welcome shade in the extreme temperatures of central Australia, and plays an important role in stabilising river banks.

It has a smooth bark, ranging in colour from white and grey to red-brown, which is shed in long ribbons. The tree has a large, dense crown of leaves. The base of the bole can be covered with rough, reddish-brown bark. The juvenile and adult leaves are stalked, with the adult leaves broad at the base, tapering to the tip. The adult leaf colour is a dull blue-green. The leaf also contains several to many oil-producing glands in the unveiled areas of the leaf. It is fast growing and usually grows 40m to 45m in height, depending on its location. The tree grows straight under favourable conditions, but can develop twisted branches in drier conditions.

The species can be found along the banks of watercourses, as well as floodplains of those watercourses. Due to proximity to these watercourses, River Red Gum is subject to regular flooding in its natural habitat. River Red Gum prefers soils with clay content. The trees not only rely on rainfall but also on regular flooding, since flooding recharges the sub-soil with water.

The trees provide a breeding habitat for fish during the flooding season, which also benefits aquatic bird life that depend on fish as a food source during their own breeding season - shelter is provided for fish in rivers and streams by fallen branches from the River Red Gum. The snags formed when River Red Gums fall into rivers such as Glenelg, are an important part of river ecosystems, and vital habitat and breeding sites for native fish like River Blackfish. Unfortunately most snags have been removed from these rivers, beginning in the 1850s, due to river-improvement strategies designed to prevent hazards to navigation, reduce damage to in-stream structures, rejuvenate or scour channels, and increase hydraulic capacity to reduce flooding. However, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission has recognised the importance of snags as aquatic habitat, and a moratorium on their removal from the Murray River has been recommended.

At the age of 120 to 180 years hollows start to form, creating habitat for many wildlife species, including a range of breeding and roosting animals such as bats, carpet pythons, and birds. The dense foliage of the tree also provides shade and shelter from the sun in drier areas.

The Superb Parrot, a threatened species, is amongst the bird species that nest in the River Red Gum.

River Red Gums contribute to the provision of nutrients and energy for other species through leaf and insect fall. This is especially important to the ecology in areas of low nutrients. The tree's preferred habitat of floodplains and watercourses also gives it the role of flood mitigator, which slows silt runoff.

This is a mockup of the video projection site.

The dimensions of the room it should be projected are: 8.715m wide and 15.435m high and 15.435m long. If the space this big is not available, then the proportions should be contained, meaning the projection wall length and width ratio should be 1,77 and the length of the room should be the same as the height.

Rear projection is the best solution, however if the projector is attached to the ceiling or any other place where it is not easily visible by the viewer, then front projection can be used as well.

The video installation can be projected either on the wall or the screen. All the walls should be painted white - any shade of white is acceptable.

The back of the room is covered by soundproof and lightproof material - preferably drapes (fabric material). 

So yesterday I went to Kuitpo Forest to film the video material for my video installation project. I had never been there before, just heard stories how amazing it was there. And yes, it was amazing - away from the city sounds, all alone in the nature with no one around except birds and trees. However, I was disappointed as I had higher expectations. Coming from a country where forests cover nearly half of the land, I am used to forests and love them. And even in New Zealand the forests are amazing. They are alive. However here in Kuitpo I saw mostly a fence covered forest, plus it was perfect in a sense that all the trees were in line like soldiers lined up for a battle. I didn't feel that forest was alive. But I managed to jump over a gate and walk through the forest to film some footage. It didn't look well, I wasn't satisfied with the result as all the trees were the same size and looked the same. As I said, there was no life. Maybe because pine trees are not native in Australia. And then I saw this beautiful eucalyptus tree in the middle of the road and somehow it struck me - that's the tree. I tried to approach it with movement, but again, the video didn't deliver the message that I was trying to give. With the movement towards the tree all the attention goes to the movement itself and therefore the tree is neglected. However my idea is to put 100% attention on the tree, the rustling of leaves, complete stillness. The movement disrupts all of this. So that is why I have chosen to work with a still approach. I filmed the tree on a tripod for three minutes and it looked beautiful!!!

Noise cancelling headphones for the project:

Bench for the project:

Recycled solid timber seat bench Zuku 105cm long and $709.00 including shipping costs to New South Wales as they do not deliver to South Australia.

The creation of this glass pavilion deepens the artist’s interest in articulating the architectural space with the work’s other elements – notedly, in this particular case, sound. Access to the internal space of the pavilion is given by a spiral ramp, hence leading the visitor naturally into the core of the installation. Therein one is confronted by the 200-meter deep hole and attraction is drawn to the source of that sound gathering. “Sonic Pavilion” (2009) sets a new moment in the artist’s production, searching for a narrative with sounds alone and ascribing the work’s imagetic portion to nature and architecture.

Back when I was travelling in New Zealand I ended up visiting the majestic kauri trees in Waipoua Forest on the North Island. One of the trees that completely changed my perception of the world and time was Tāne Mahuta. Kauri in maori means king of the forest. Tāne is the son of Ranginui the sky father and  Papatuanuku the earth mother. The age of this tree is unknown, but it is estimated to be from 1,250 to 2,500 years old. To give an idea of how the tree looks like, here are the dimensions:

Trunk girth - 13.77m, height - 17.68m, total height - 51.2m, trunk volume - 244.5m3, total volume - 516.7m3.

Even though one reads the numbers, it is impossible to get the feeling just by reading about this tree. The experience is important.

When I arrived there I had no idea what I was about to see and experience. I've never looked or thought about trees in any other way than the trees as we humans perceive them. 

Here's a little side note before I continue writing about my experience with the kauri trees.

When I was staying in Kaikoura on South Island, I was stuck inside for two weeks because of the non stop rain. Luckily I had a book "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle which I read every day in a quiet space. As I read it I observed the plant that was placed next to the couch where I was sitting and, as I did that, the feeling of total peace and "no time" overtook me. I realised that nature exists, it exists outside of time and space, It just is.

Tolle writes about being in the present moment as that is all there is and will ever be. Even the past and the future are just illusions. Time is an illusion. The time is now.

Modern people living in the cities and working in offices are bound by time as without time there would be a "chaos". There would be no reference. Time is a man made prison as time helps to control, reference and create past and future. When you look around or listen to most of the people, most of them are either living in the past or in the future. They have no "time" to enjoy the now. They are bound by time hence I call it a prison. Once we manage to free ourselves from time, we become more present in the now and actually start to enjoy our lives and everything that is happening to us, even the so called "bad" things.

Being in the now is being present with your mind, body and soul in whatever situation you are at. Even if you are in a busy place, but decide to withdraw from all the stress around and go within yourself, it still means that you are being present. You are acknowledging the situation around you, but choose to be with yourself. You are not running away from it or denying it, or fighting it. You enter the "no time" dimension and be present.

The opposite situation would be if someone in the same situation got irritated, stressed or nervous in the busy place. In this situation their choice would be determined by running away from themselves. They would surrender to the crowd and let them govern their "presence". In this case they would be totally imprisoned by time and space as they would feel that there is no way out. They would fight it, cry over it, complain and still remain in the same situation without doing anything to change it.

Now, getting back to kauri trees...

I approached the tree and was totally blown away by its majesty in all the meanings - size, spirit and vibes. The tree just stood there. And then I realised that it has been there since the beginning of "time", it has seen all the wars, natural disasters, it has even been there when the Christ was born (if we believe that the Christ was born and lived 2013 years ago). And still it stood. Graceful, in peace. All I could feel there was love and at that moment the time stopped existing. I had entered the dimension of no time. I just stood there in awe and stared. I had never been more present in my life. And if you asked how long I stood there, I could not tell you as I was not aware of time.

Then, I went for a walk and got to see and touch (hug) another tree, a smaller kauri, but still it was grand. And this one was approachable. The other big trees can only be viewed from the distance due to their fragile root system. Anyways, when I hugged it, I felt the tree, it was alive. Have you ever thought about a tree as being alive? They are, but they are still beings and they communicate in a more subtle way. The only way you can hear a tree is by feeling it.

However, there have been other moments in my life after that encounter where I entered the "no time" dimension. Most of the times this happens when I meditate, therefore I can consciously choose to do that, but once this happened without me even trying.

We were driving in a car from Glenelg on Anzac highway back home and I had a classical music station turned on in the car, however that night some really weird music was playing. And at some point while listening to that music the time just stopped. There was not time. I was stunned, so I asked my friend if he had the same feeling. Surprisingly he did. So we just sat there in the car at the traffic lights in silence and just were outside of time. I probably can't explain this "out of time" feeling exactly as I felt it, because it has to be felt to be understood.

So, based on all these experiences, I wanted to give and deliver the present feeling, the "out of time" feeling to viewers of this upcoming video installation. I have chosen to work with trees, but due to work and ironically, time, I am not able to travel to New Zealand and film the majestic kauri trees. However I have an alternative here in South Australia - Kuitpo Forest. 

I am planning to go there and film my chosen tree using my Digital SLR and 70 - 300mm zoom lens. It will be a challenge as I am planning to zoom in while keeping the focus on the tree. We'll see how this turns out as I still have to go there and explore, find my tree I am able to communicate with. As an alternative I will film without any movement, do variations and see how they feel. I will choose the one film that delivers the right feeling. Experiment.

Another idea to consider - walk towards the tree with a camera for 3 minutes. Film in vertical position and edit in Adobe Premiere Pro.