Traditional myths, legends and stories speak of trees as universal symbols of life and spirit around the world and throughout time. The concept of a ‘tree of life’ has been one of the most widespread and long-lasting archetypes of our species. Many traditional cultures revere the spirit of trees invoking ‘nature spirits’ who live in trees, spirits that would die when the tree died.

Trees are the ‘lungs’ of our planet, absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releasing the oxygen upon which we rely. Humans and trees are inextricably intertwined on our shared planet. We cut trees down at our peril.

Most indigenous worldviews acknowledge that all species are bound together. They do not hierarchically separate humans from other living entities. Humans are not at the apex with dominion over all other species below them, but rather are of equal status with other species. The human is as important as an ant, a rock, the sky, a tree. All species coexist in the complex interconnected web of life.

Australian Aboriginal writer Mudrooroo states *“All elements of the Earth are interconnected: the people, the plants and animals, land forms and celestial bodies. Everything is related to each other. Our spirituality is a oneness and an interconnectedness with all that lives and breathes, even with all that does not live or breathe.”

And Professor Jakelin Troy, a Ngarigu woman from the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, further explains that; “All elements of the natural world are animated. Every rock, mountain, river, plant and anima .. all are sentient … having individual personalities and a life force” *

There is something magical about walking amidst the Mountain Ash of the Bago Forest, the tall straight trees towering overhead. It conjures a shared memory across cultures of ancient spirits guarding, protecting and enlivening all the forest beings.

This wind activated kinetic artwork is inspired by the tradition of tree ‘spirits’ and the knowledge that all species co-exist. A number of indeterminate sculptural forms either like wings that morph into human fingers, or human arm-like forms that transform into bird wing feather tips or tree top leaves, float slowly up and slowly down, mid-air, in an animated performance choreographed by the wind. Evanescent. The human, the bird and the tree are conceptually conjoined in this ‘Bush Spirits’ reverie. As if grafted together, the human arm, the bird wing and the tree branch become interchangeable limbs forming an ensemble of whimsical hybrid spirit beings moving rhythmically and languidly, like the breath of the forest itself.