Urban Forest Works

Fae Logie’s Urban Forest Works articulate a correspondence of dwelling and forests. Her interest lies in perceptions and metaphors of the forest ecosystem, unique indigenous and modified treed landscapes, both local and distant. Considering the forest ecosystem, its natural history, its biodiversity, its languages, its cultures, Logie subverts a purely objective inquiry, to make connection between the poetic, conceptual and environmental. These works inquire into how people create a sense of identity though familiar urban landscapes with an intention to question our existing knowledge base and notions of wild and, in turn, what we value.

Between 2012 and 2015, Logie spent time in northern landscapes that share a global connection – Reykjavik, Iceland, Dawson City, Yukon, and Trondheim, Norway. Each of these destinations resides close to 64th degrees latitude north. Taken as a point of reference, it signifies a line of interest through settlements that border on forested habitat limited by a cold climate and short growing season as well as the impacts of climate change.

A paper, ‘Forestry in a treeless land’ by Throstur Eysteinsson, set the stage for Logie’s investigations into the struggle of afforestation and the meaning of trees in Iceland. In contrast, Dawson City’s forested boreal ecozone is part of the largest intact forest in the world. In northern Norway, a major threat to biodiversity is the loss of primary forests for the creation of plantations. Logie is interested in the global significance of these perceived places of wild where perception often beguiles the environmental reality in terms of forest use.

As part of Logie’s research into climate change strategies in northern forests – forest protection and reforestation, land use change, wetland retention and reclaimation, and carbon sequestration, she worked on small ‘traveling’ site-responsive sculptures. These works, referencing local stories and anecdotes of place, were located and documented within the forest, or alternatively, in gallery spaces.