mauvaises herbes, 2024, site-specific installation, variable dimensions
but still present, 2024, stump, wicker, reclaimed fabrics, raffia, wax and rosin, variable dimensions
To explore the theme of biodiversity as part of the We Love Green festival, So Jung explores the duality of the strangler fig, a figure inseparable from life and death.
A strangler fig seed lands on the top of a host tree and develops aerial roots, invading the host and causing its death. In this process, where the life of the tree comes to an end, the birth and rooting of the strangler fig are also present. Life and death are closely intertwined. So Jung notes that death is as natural in an ecosystem as the birth of life. Yet the first impression we get of the name “strangler” is a negative, violent image linked to human judgment.
To represent this tree, So Jung uses natural and salvaged materials from a second-hand platform. She uses a stump for the central column, as well as wicker, reclaimed fabrics, raffia, wax and rosin. The wicker So Jung uses comes from a pollard willow tree, its long stems becoming flexible when soaked in water for a while.
These trees were used by soldiers during the wars, both as weapons caches and lookout posts. Soldiers also used their hollow trunks as camouflage to stay alive when ordered to kill. Some pollarded willows witnessed this period of tension between the reign of life and death, and today it's part of their history. Symbolically, the pollard willow embodies the host tree of the strangler fig tree, but in this project So Jung reincarnates its willows into the strangler fig tree, enabling it once again to become a shelter for forest animals. So Jung juxtaposes these two trees, transforming them into shelters for other species and questioning the relationship between trees and other living beings, as well as that between trees and humans. Where death was once present, life reclaims its rights and takes root once more.
strangling landing, 2024
Strangler fig(strangling landing), 2024, sound, 12’45
Audio excerpt
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For the group exhibition in situ in the Auteuil Botanical Gardens on the theme of sonic self-portraits, So Jung took an interest in the duality of the strangler fig tree: alternately a bearer of death and a refuge for the living. The strangler fig is a hemiepiphytic plant, requiring another tree as support for its growth. As it grows, its roots completely envelop the trunk of the host tree, blocking sunlight and gradually causing the death of its host, earning it the name “strangler”. However, its sturdy roots also prove protective for other species, particularly in stormy weather.
The choice of a tree as a self-portrait questions the place of the human species in this vast ecosystem, underlining our relationship with nature and our role as human beings. It is also an existential reflection on the beings we depend on to survive, on death, and on how we can be a refuge for other species.
So Jung interprets the tree's ambivalent presence through sound. By recording the inaudible noises of everyday life with an electromagnetic microphone, she creates a sound pollution that invades the space. These ambiguous sounds can successively evoke the sound of an insect or that of a landing. An oppressive atmosphere emerges and gradually envelops us.
So Jung encourages visitors to spiral through the space, where plants absorb sound. This experience provokes a constant questioning of what disturbs and protects in the realm of sound and space.
Strangler fig, 2024, pencil drawing, 29 x 20 cm