Planting Foreign Trees, 2023

My sister helped me plant a cottonwood tree in my yard, and then my sister planted me.

제피는 나무입니다.
J P is a tree.
My blood is tree.

I spent 3 hours rooting in the earth with this cottonwood tree, which is not an indigenous species to New Mexico. I acknowledge that I am also a foreign body, an uninvited settler on stolen land. I perceive that my urge to encode ritual and story into land respects the land and connects human to place. Diaspora becomes un-alien through connection to land. I experienced joy being watered by my sister and rooting with this very young tree, and the tree taught me to grow and Be in my shape. It taught me to open fully to the light and possibility even when fear and peril is present. This very young tree also taught me something inexplicable - it taught me to die. It taught me that even in demise, my body will nourish those around me, particularly those I am bound to at the roots.

 

Medium:
Performance Video:
https://youtu.be/Y8Ehc7zPQSs