Neola

by Keith Buswell

“Community is a notion that we are not only connected by our heritage and proximity, but also through an exchange of ideas and a desire to help one another. Trees personify this complex and vital system. In 2016, ecologist Suzanne Simard wanted to find out if trees could talk to each other. What she found was a network of fungi underground connecting the roots of trees that not only relayed information to each other, but also provided nutrients for young and dying plants. This discovery is an embodiment of community. Arboreal pictures act as a symbolic language for us to see how connected we are. By using different types of trees around my community in Lincoln, Nebraska and locations meaningful to me, I am portraying communities living together. We need our farmers, teachers, and artists just as much as trees need a forest. The threads that connect us may not be as visible as my work prescribes, but they are there; a continuous interconnection to one another.”