The artworks in the Eternal Forest cycle created in 2018 and 2019 are based on poetry, inspired by the themes of forest time, natural time, and the one-thousand-year-long vision of Eternal Forest. These calligraphy works are manifesting the natural flow, they are following the ‘teachings’ of streams, roots, passages that nature creates in a complex way. The calligraphy drawings from 2018 are created on paper from the old abandoned paper factory in Gois, Portugal, with the water from the local stream; the water goes on paper and creates organic pathways for the ink to flow. The poems are balancing on the edge of legibility, they dissolve into the forest of meanings. The Eternal Forest Manifesto is written in the form of a long scroll simultaneously in English and Portuguese and will be translated and handwritten in every language where Eternal Forest Sanctuary will be established. This artwork also exists in the dimension of oral tradition, being spoken as initiation and invocation in the forest, to the forest, her beings and to the human beings present at this moment.
I plant the word
The word of people
With the blood of the tree
The tree of Forest
Forest Codex
I soar between
Ridges of mountains
Vast expanse
Valley after valley
Streams come down
From all directions
Unstoppable flow
Meandering
Eternal Forest
Everything is motion
My gaze connects all
My ears hear
Continuity of sound
Life is never quiet
Beyond time
I see no borders
Every living being
Is essential
The future is mutual
We must imagine
1000 years
It is a slow turning
Single tree where sacred forest no more
Barren vein once a myriad strata
Rare voice a relic of obsolete song
Idle seeds race perpetual cycle
Roots once severed grow forever apart
Vacant dream amidst human desert
Instant past of the future all we can plant
Every word spoken here is present
Living memory dire cry for emergence
Eternal Forest is a multidisciplinary art project which explores and transforms human relationship with forest, biodiversity, time and sacred. Eternal Forest Sanctuaries are acts of deep listening and co-creating with nature. Embracing long-term thinking, Eternal Forest is the vision to establish 1000 Eternal Forest Sanctuaries and protect them for 1000 years.
Every Eternal Forest Sanctuary is a community’s offering, a gift of old-growth biodiverse forest to future generations. Eternal Forest art project builds awareness of the beauty and the deep impact a forest and nature can have on our lives, and aims to create spaces that positively contribute to local biodiversity. Eternal Forest works with natural cycles and processes, embracing change, complexity and reciprocity as intrinsic qualities.
It considers the human need for time and space for contemplation, for regeneration in natural time and space, for a deeper connection with nature. The purpose of these spaces is to encourage quiet and contemplation, inspiration and art, deep learning and community gatherings, co-creation with nature and celebration of nature’s cycles, while helping the forest to grow. The purpose of the project is to shift the perception of time in our culture from linear to cyclical, from short term vision to long term.
The design and creation of Eternal Forest Sanctuaries is an on-going collaborative work between artists, scientists, forest experts, ecosystem restoration and reforestation initiatives, driven and organised by the local communities and organisations.
Follow the links to discover more about the many manifestations of the Eternal Forest project.
eternalforest.earth
www.evgeniaemets.vision
www.instagram.com/eternal_forest_global
Image credits (from top):
1. (left) Evgenia Emets, Eternal Forest 003 2018: Forest Codex, Eternal Forest, 2018, ink on paper from abandoned paper factory in Gois, 2018
2. (centre) Evgenia Emets, Eternal Forest 004 2018: Forest Codex, Eternal Forest, 2018, ink on paper from abandoned paper factory in Gois, 2018
3. (right) Evgenia Emets Eternal Forest 007 2018: Vida, Eternal Forest, 2018, ink on paper from abandoned paper factory in Gois, 2018
4. Evgenia Emets, I plant the word, Eternal Forest, 2018, ink on paper from abandoned paper factory in Gois, 2018, 170 x 140 cm, 4 panels
5. Evgenia Emets, Eternal Forest 002 2018: Forest Codex, Eternal Forest, 2018, ink on paper from abandoned paper factory in Gois, 2018, 68 x 82 cm
6. Evgenia Emets, Eternal Forest Map, ink on paper from abandoned paper factory in Gois, 2018
7. (left) Evgenia Emets, Eternal Forest Manifesto, ink on fabric, 2019, Evgenia Emets
8. (centre left) Evgenia Emets, A page from Eternal Forest Manifesto artist’s book, wood, ink, fabric, paper, print, 2019,
9. (centre right) Evgenia Emets, A page from Eternal Forest Manifesto artist’s book, wood, ink, fabric, paper, print, 2019,
10. (right) Evgenia Emets, A page from Eternal Forest Manifesto artist’s book, wood, ink, fabric, paper, print, 2019,
11. Evgenia Emets, Eternal Forest Sanctuary Experience Map, Bienal de Coruche, 2019
This is part of RHYTHM, a section of The Learned Pig devoted to exploring rhythm as individual and collective, as poetic and biological, and the ways that rhythm dictates life. RHYTHM is conceived and edited by Rachel Goldblatt.
