Paper RePlant_Family tree 2025
My stay in Germany and then in Cleveland, Ohio, allowed me to embark on a path of creative exploration, which was largely related to a place detached from my daily routine and the time I found myself in at the beginning of 2025. This spontaneous project, Paper rePlant_Family tree, gave me a personal space to experience grief, to mourn the death of my grandmother and grandfather, who raised me. Acceptance of the passage of time in relation to the cyclical processes of nature’s transformation, and at the same time, reflection on the current composition of my modest family and, consequently, coming to terms with the end of its lineage in my person. On the other hand, the tendency observed in social media to repress the process of aging, slowing down, or physical impairment definitely distances us from the nature of transience. In this conceptual project, paper serves as a medium for reflection on transcending materiality, the process of aging, the passage of time, but also on building family ties in the context of nature.
My “family network of relatives” – hybrid objects made of paper, waste paper, fragments of trees, and discarded parts of worn-out devices – become the protagonists of a “family album.” Symbolic “reimplantation” here means reconnecting and restoring missing organic matter in what has been discarded and damaged, but also rebuilding the bond between man and nature. So I fill the gaps in wood, branches, trunks, and wooden furniture elements with waste paper and cellulose pulp to give them the individual personality of a relative of my alternative family.
Paper RePlant is a critical commentary on the consumerist approach to natural resources. It offers a subtle form of return to nature. It is also my remedy for the passage of time and my desire to have a large family scattered around the world. The project is subject to expansion during my artistic residencies. Each RePlant family member object receives its own story, narrative, and personality, which will be included in a family album. Thanks to an EU arts grant for culture, I am creating it in paper and online versions. I plan to publish it in March 2026.