When the Tree Speaks

An Exploration of Language, Migration, and Nature

Spring 2025 Advanced Studio VI
Instructors / Jayden Ali, Chloe Munkenbeck 
Individual Work
Location:  New York
Project was exhibited in A Space Gallery.

“When the Tree Speaks” is a personal  exploration of language, migration, and ecological memory. It centers on the my evolving communication with my family, three generations shaped by different geographies and accents, yet connected through a shared sensitivity to place, plants, and care. In this project, trees become mediators of dialogue. The artist collects stories of specific species, London Plane, Ginkgo, Sweetgum, Zelkova, and Goldenrain,that have grown across the various cities my family has lived in, using them as common ground for intergenerational conversations.
Through a series of drawings made not by hand but by wind-guided tree branches, I captures the silent gestures of trees as they respond to weather, time, and presence. These natural marks are paired with transcribed conversations about plants, forming a long scroll where human language and botanical movement coexist. In this hybrid visual-textual field, the failure of spoken clarity gives way to a deeper form of understanding, one rooted in gesture, ecology, and care.
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