Location:
2210 West Pershing Road
Chicago, IL 60609
Location Notes:
Just North of soccer field
Located Within:
McKinley (William) Park
Artist:
Anthony Heinz May
Medium:
Ash wood, rebar
Year Created:
2017
Features:
Outdoor, Temporary, Sculpture
Description
The Chicago Tree Project (CTP) is a collaborative initiative between the Chicago Park District and Chicago Sculpture International. The CTP is an annual citywide effort to transform sick and dying trees into vibrant public art rather than cutting them down. Using art as a vessel for public engagement, sculptors transform trees into fun and whimsical experiences for the greater Chicago community. Each year, twelve new trees are installed throughout the city. A complete map and more information can be found at www.chicagotreeproject.org
Artist's Statement: Natura Non Confundenda Est translates from Vulgar Latin roughly as “Do Not Confuse Mother Nature.” The modern meaning behind my sculpture when coupled with its title is rather intuitive. Evidently the colloquial itself (as a way of life), passed down through ancient human intuition and inherent to being human, is long deceased. When nature is confused or challenged, so too are its offsets, which are represented by all life of Earth.
Digitization of the physical world has rearranged and brought new defining purpose of being human. An injustice to nature, this cataclysmic operation of repurposing mocks reality, transcends and eventually destroys what holds existence and life in breath. Redefining what it means to be human requires the dissolve of being through a process of self-immolation without having to physically set oneself aflame. Within the engulfing pit of charred embers will nature continue to be questioned as relevant to being human. Only after arteries and veins of Earth run dry and soils vamped to fissured cracks will the burning question between humans and nature be answered.