The Afghanistan Tree Stories Project - What Trees Say reshapes the way we think about the narratives of trees, and how they serve as important communicators of culture and markers of time passed. The narrative we too often hear about trees is limited to the catastrophic things that are happening to them namely logging and burning or that they serve to sequester carbon. Similarly the narrative we hear about Afghanistan centres on catastrophe and human suffering. Just as trees themselves develop networks of communication and support for their fellow trees, this project will lean into this capacity trees (and humans) have to tell the interconnected stories of their lives and surroundings. Through storytelling, creative artistic practice, and data visualization we will highlight the stories, patterns, and history of these trees, and the stories people of Afghanistan tell about them.

The project has endured multiple delays due to the pandemic and the nature of international collaborations across three continents. These delays have enhanced the art emerging from the stories we collected - just like the path of a sapling, the Project is searching for light and digging its roots deeper into our human narrative of the environment.

The project was developed by Dr. Diana Chester and Ann Jyothis Raj, and has grown into a collaboration with multiple individuals. The website is an emerging expression of the process of interpreting stories. The artists have chosen their mediums and rely on human senses to feel for and explore the depth of the human narratives of the arboreal realms. Indeed, a forest, a tree...is much more than you see.

This project was made possible through a grant from the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney.

As this is a work in progress do visit us from time to time to check the updated artwork or sign up to receive updates.