Branching Out by Michelle Bates

Issue 26

I have always had an interest in transformation, and finding the beauty in it. Fall is my favorite time of year, when trees become bare and their skeletal forms emerge from bushy crowns to reveal stunning silhouettes. In addition to the natural turning of the seasons, other elements come into play to alter the lives and forms of trees: fire, humans uprooting orchards, generations of feet trampling roots.

Some trees pictured here live in the center of cities; others are protected within national parks and frequently viewed and photographed; or they grow anonymously in isolated rural areas; or have reached the end of their lives through natural or unnatural causes. I find inspiration in these figures, and have an appreciation of their presence both in the country and in the city, where they transform concrete spaces into living environments. Here they are further altered by the abstraction of photographing in black and white, the view of a plastic-lensed Holga camera, and my own organic frame.

Michelle Bates is a Seattle, Washington based artist.
To view more of Michelle's work, please visit her website