A Forest of Ink-Covered Trees Grows in Pittsburgh

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Sometimes where there’s smoke… there’s a meditative installation. Artist Jennifer Wen Ma, who previously translated the I Ching into a light show on the side of a building in Beijing, planted a tiny forest of Chinese ink-drenched trees in downtown Pittsburgh, complete with wooden pathway, fog machine, and orbs of “sparkle.” While Ma’s goal was to “mimic the look of a classical scholar’s studio in the mountains as is often depicted in Chinese landscape painting,” as she writes on her site, the work's dynamic use of fog has already prompted a number of passersby to call firefighters.

From February to April, A Winter Landscape Cradling Bits of Sparkle, Ma’s forest of 120 weeping willows, evergreens, flowering fruit trees, and bamboo, painted with 440lbs of Chinese ink, brings a natural oasis into Pittsburgh's concrete jungle. Over time, the trees will evolve with the season, bursting green shoots and flowers from their blackened shells. In addition, Ma and her team constructed a wooden path to bisect the installation, allowing visitors to traverse the landscape as they meditate on their surroundings.

The “Bits of Sparkle” in the project's title refers to Ma's use of golden glass globes that reflect the sun’s rays during the day and become illuminated with LEDs at night. “They offer a small discovery that may shift one’s attention to an internal space, encouraging contemplation and promising restoration,” explains the artist.

Ma believes that the winter season may seem dormant from the onset, but it plays an important part in the cycle of life: “It allows the earth to quiet down and restore itself in preparation for the birth of spring.” On another level, winter is a metaphor for a period of hibernation within ourselves. “A Winter Landscape Cradling Bits of Sparkle allows visitors to form their own narratives of quietude, reflection, solace, nurturing, and ultimate restoration to life along with the shift of the season,” she says.

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