The Space Between: Meditations on a Plum Thicket

The plum thicket resides in woods near my northern Wisconsin home. It is one last reminder of the farms that once existed in the area. I started photographing it in December, 2014. Within a week I decided to go through an entire seasonal year with the thicket. I loved the grace and gestures of the branches, the rhythms and connections between the trees. I loved the tenacious presence of these small trees within the woods that now envelop them.

The thicket unfolded as I made more and more visits with my camera. Gradually my attention shifted from how the thicket fit into its encroaching environment to what was happening within it. Inside the thicket there is a fine netting of small branches and tiny twigs that are interwoven and spread themselves throughout the space between the branches. This network creates a visual energy field.

In studying the netting between the branches and trees, I came to realize that the graceful and evocative relationships of the thicket, which I love, are created by space, a space that is shaped by the forms of the trees and branches. That space is where the poetry is. And it became the underlying subject of my study.