Afforestation*: The Instrumentalization of a Tree

Tree Planting Policy

This research exhibition examines afforestation* as a political and spatial practice, rather than as an inherently benevolent ecological intervention. The asterisk draws inspiration from Christina Sharpe’s use of “trans*,” which links multiple, often conflicting states without settling on a single definition. Similarly, afforestation* is used here to capture both the constructive and destructive aspects of tree planting: its ability to regenerate landscapes while also displacing communities, erasing contested histories, and reshaping territory through seemingly neutral ecological acts. Care, here, is not a stable or benevolent category. While afforestation is often seen as a positive environmental action and trees are commonly framed as symbols of care, sustainability, and environmental repair, this exhibit shows that afforestation* has been systematically mobilized as an instrument of governance. What appears to be ecological restoration may actually be territorial manipulation; what is presented as an environmental effort might be driven by control motives. What appears to be ecological restoration may in fact constitute a form of territorial manipulation; what is presented as an environmental initiative may instead be driven by motives of control. This exhibit invites visitors to critically examine the instrumentalization of the tree by approaching the forest from the ground up, seeing it through its roots rather than its canopy.

 

Stand Under. Explore.​

Paper cylinders (200 in total), suspended from a metal grid frame, form a world map, inviting visitors to examine it from the ground up. While these cylinders symbolize tree roots, the experience is akin to looking up at the forest canopy from beneath. The threads vary in length, each representing a country where afforestation* is used as a political instrument. Their length correlates with the proportion of land under political afforestation* relative to the country’s total land area. A greater share of land covered by afforestation* leads to longer threads, each topped with a tag containing written and visual data about the specific country it points to.

 

The installation portrays the forest as shaped by political authority that deliberately makes it appear organized, seamless, and neutral. However, a closer inspection of the files at ground level reveals how a tree is instrumentalized. They document the three most commonly used tree species for political afforestation*, selected not for ecological harmony but for their rapid growth, density, and industrial suitability. Visitors navigate the exhibition much as they would traverse territory, exploring hidden evidence buried beneath the soil.

 

Visitors standing beneath the installation are active participants, not passive viewers, because the structure’s logic extends beyond their immediate perception. Looking up requires focused bodily attention, while bending down demands effort. Both postures are intentional, not incidental.

 

The Tree as an Instrument​

The tree species recorded at ground level are more than a background; they are active participants. Exploitative economies choose them to stabilize soil in areas formerly affected by conflict and dispossession, rendering harm, violence, and erasure in these places invisible. The tree participates in the making of boundaries, the regulation of movement, and the rewriting of collective memory. Nature has never been impartial, and in the context of afforestation*, it has been mobilized.