Forest Signs
graphic art series, 2025
Forest signs 1/9
Forest signs 1/9
coloured acrylic ink on acid-free paper (200 g/m²) / 21 x 29.7 x 0.2 cm / 2025
Forest signs 4/9
Forest signs 4/9
coloured acrylic ink on acid-free paper (200 g/m²) / 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm / 2025
Forest signs 2/9
Forest signs 2/9
coloured acrylic ink on acid-free paper (200 g/m²) / 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm / 2025
Forest signs 8/9
Forest signs 8/9
coloured acrylic ink on acid-free paper (200 g/m²) / 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm / 2025
Forest signs 9/9
Forest signs 9/9
coloured acrylic ink on acid-free paper (200 g/m²) / 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm / 2025
Forest signs 5/9
Forest signs 5/9
coloured acrylic ink on acid-free paper (200 g/m²) / 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm / 2025
Forest signs 7/9
Forest signs 7/9
coloured acrylic ink on acid-free paper (200 g/m²) / 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm / 2025
Forest signs 3/9
Forest signs 3/9
coloured acrylic ink on acid-free paper (200 g/m²) / 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm / 2025
Forest signs 6/9
Forest signs 6/9
coloured acrylic ink on acid-free paper (200 g/m²) / 21 x 29.7 x 0.1 cm / 2025

The Facets of Myth:

The "Forest Signs" Series (9 sheets, paper, coloured ink, brush) is an inquiry situated at the intersection of speculative archaeology and the animist turn in contemporary art. Drawing from the study of animist practices during expeditions, the artist poses the question of the possibility of restoring a lost dialogue with non-human actors. The series represents an attempt to create a visual language for this dialogue: each piece is not a portrait of a tree, but its graphic "name", constructed through an abstract sign. Thus, the project reinterprets the ancient shamanistic principle of "naming = establishing contact" as a relevant artistic method.

The subjects of the inquiry are specific trees encountered in real life across various locations. Technically, the artist employs a minimalist yet demanding toolkit — ink and brush on paper — which references both calligraphic traditions and the practice of a scientist's field sketches. Each abstract "sign-name" is born not from arbitrary graphics but is the result of meditative observation of a tree's individuality: the pattern of its bark, the rhythm of its branches, its character of growth. The process can be described as "visual listening" and the subsequent recording of what was heard in a unique graphic cipher. This method is a logical evolution of "creative alchemy", distilled to its essential, almost ritualistic core.

The "Forest Signs" series holds a threefold value. First, it offers not merely an ecological discussion but a constructive artistic model for post-anthropocentric thinking, which is in demand in philosophy and contemporary art. Second, its form — laconic, almost scientific graphics on paper — creates a powerful conceptual contrast with the artist's painterly series, demonstrating the range of her language. Third, the series engages with the profoundly relevant theme of the "more-than-human": it materializes the idea that nature is not a resource or a backdrop, but a community of subjects with whom a dialogue at the level of language and sign is possible (and necessary). This positions the artist as an author who, through a return to archaic practices, finds a form for the most advanced intellectual discussions about the future of the planet and human consciousness.
Harlauta Art © Daria Harlauta 2009-2025
All rights reserved
ISNI 0000 0005 2738 8866

All visual and textual content (including images, texts, photos, and videos) on this website

is the intellectual property of the author and is protected under copyright legislation.

Reproduction or use of any materials without prior written authorization from the author

is strictly forbidden.

For business and collaboration inquiries, please email: daria.harlauta@gmail.com

Made on
Tilda