Photo by: Adrina C. Bardekjian
ernment organizations and municipal partnerships. As
the first line of inquiry and care, arborists are commu-
nity educators on the ground and in the treetops and
have a wealth of knowledge to share.
I believe that communicating stories and dissemi-
nating research needs to happen in different forms
to reach broader audiences. One of the ways to do
this is through creative representations and artistic
interventions such as film, art installations, and pho-
tography.
I had the privilege of working on a short film during
my doctoral work called "Limbwalkers."
What I learned
from this experience is that capturing stories of par-
ticipating arborists on film was invaluable for commu-
nicating specific narratives to the public—in this case,
a snapshot into climbers' insights about a variety of
topics. I'm hoping to secure funding to continue a
series of micro-docs from the footage we have com-
piled over the years—which is currently sitting in post
processing.
When talking about agency and considering the place
and influence of non-human nature in our physical
environment, artistic interventions can be powerful.
For example, likening a dead tree (or one in the pro-
cess of removal) to the art installation by Su-chen
Hung called "Tree
with Arteries" can evoke a visceral
reaction—towards trees, towards workers. It invokes
questions about vulnerability, affect, and agency.
The installation also goes back to the quote above
regarding the perception of large trees and under-
standing their presence and grandeur only after they
are lying on the ground. However, it's important to
keep in mind that this is also an abstraction and can
sensationalize the issue at hand, while also propagat-
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