The installation titled The Organ Trees is inspired by the many mythological meanings of the elder tree and consists of video, sound, and glass sculptures with black elder trees. The resin of the elder tree is red, and it was called the blood of the elder tree. In Finland, the elder was identified as a human being, and like human beings, the elder could feel pain. In Ragnhild Myrstad’s master’s thesis, Bear Graves in Northern Norway, Traces of the Sami Bear Cult, she describes how the elder tree has been a symbol in the bear cult, including the use of elder bark sap in bear hunting rituals. The installation comprises video, sound, and glass sculptures with living black alder trees. The works included in The Organ Trees are part of a duo show titled An Infinite Number of Possible Worlds, also featuring works by artist Mekdes Weldehanna Shebeta, at S12 Galleri in Bergen.
The glassworks created for the installation were developed with the support of Noah Hartley, studio manager at S12 Glassworks, during a residency at their workshop in January and February 2025. The exhibition received financial support from Bergen Kommune, Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond, and KIN regionale midler.
Working on the installation, I have been inspired by the idea of a parallel existence where the life cycle of humans is mirrored in the trees. In the philosophical work Bubbles, Peter Sloterdijk writes about how history has seen many representations of the idea that there is a spiritual double or magical, vegetative parallel life. There, the mythological notion of sacred trees has a central position. Various rituals where a tree is planted shortly after the birth of a child are found in several religions, with traces back to Babylonian times. In many rituals, the tree is planted together with the child’s umbilical cord or placenta.
The video shows underwater footage from Hystadmarkjo in Stord, south of Bergen. This area is one of the largest Black alder swamp forests in Norway, where the trees stand with their roots out into the sea. Due to the nitrogen-fixing root nodules, Black alder is a soil-improving tree species and reduces soil erosion, which is important for maintaining stability in the ecosystem. Duration of video 13 minutes loop.