New England Diary

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Mutilated hindrances to progress?

nasser
"From the "Trees Grow and Fall'' show of Iranian artist Nasser K at 555 Gallery, Boston, Nov. 15-Dec. 6.

The gallery notes say:

''It is now, when they {trees in the fall} stand naked before us, baring their timbered skeletons, that we are truly privy to their grand structure and strength. And it is now when we see portions of their guts cut away to make room for power lines, their limbs fenced out to make room for us, and we have to stop and wonder: can trees and humans coexist?

''These photos depicted trees being pushed back or mutilated by newly built structures, while others had been replaced entirely by electric poles made out of their own corpses. How is it possible that in the forest, trees rise majestically as the world's sentinels of life, symbols of goodness and clean air, but in the city packed with people, cars, buildings, and buses, trees become hindrances to progress, nuisances to be eliminated?''