Respire: The World Begins with Trees, 2021/2025

For Sonsbeek 2021, Arnhem-born artist Jennifer Tee created a large work with bricks, close to the waterfall in Park Sonsbeek. During the exhibition, the work was activated by performances and visitors could walk over it. Tee’s work and performance explore the symbiotic network that plants and trees use to communicate and grow, and how this interactive ‘colony model’ reflects the movements and migration of people in Arnhem. The tree of life motif in the sculpture refers to the geometry of plant structures in which similar patterns can be seen at both the micro and macro levels. These patterns also form a connection with ancestral roots, the tree of knowledge, and the ‘cosmic’ tree. The river clay for the bricks has traveled long distances and also refers to migration. The clay comes from different locations, giving the stones different colors and textures. The leaf prints that adorn some of the stones come from plants and trees in Sonsbeek Park.