Torrey Pine

This art work is being kindly supported with a grant by the Hessian Culture Foundation.

A woman in the German state, Hessen, asked me for three drawings of "Torrey Pines". This is a rare pine that is native to her place of birth, San Diego (California, USA) and is critically endangered. 

I wanted to create these drawings in situ in San Diego, but because of the Covid-19 travel restrictions, I became inspired to create the following video art work:

Using her digital photo collection of private and natural photographs that show her with friends and family walking along the coast or sitting at the beach where the Torrey Pines grow, I project them onto her undressed back in a slide show. Playing with the aesthetics of the continuously changing sharp and blurred pictures on the non-flat "screen", I record the projection on her back on video. At the same time, the video picture is framed by her voice, speaking in her mother tongue, English about her memories of her family, the coast and the Torrey Pines. 

My goal is to project this art work in a site-specific installation in San Diego, California (USA).

video still  ©Shpresa Faqi