Gifts from the Sentient Forest
Communication & Collaboration Between People & Trees in Northern Finland

I step outside my comfortably furnished dwelling at the banks of Ilola river. I bring one foot, then another, slowly making my way through the fields and then into the forest. Before I notice, there is a full smile on my face and the thoughts fade to the background. 

There is something precious I have learnt during the past two years under the Gifts from the Sentient Forest project - to really lean back onto the sense of confidence and trust, lingering in it, as I turn into an intuitive creative practice with the more-than-human world. I have normalised for myself the idea that communication can be directed at, and received from, completely trans-species. And beyond any rational or scientific understanding of how the forest ecosystems work (although often very helpful). I also found a community that motivated me to work in that direction and showed other fascinating ways to look at the humans relationship with nature. 

I meditate and dance with Mother Trees. I ask landscapes, boulders and tree trunks questions that I lack answers for. I create organic choreographies in nature. And I am taking time to make sense out of what I am doing, putting as a measure that whatever it is, I want to be part of, even if it is just a slight shift towards a less destructive way of living. What is also important is doing this work makes me absolutely filled with joy.

Transcription, meeting a tree: I am. Here. Feet on the forest floor. Eyes closed. Hear the wind. Hear the breath. Swaying. Open. Pressing down with one foot. Weight shift. Pelvis tilted. Long stretch up. Hands straight. Fingers straight. Less tension. Less tension. Less tension. Swaying. Bend. Arms bend. Graaaasp aaaawe. Head down down down. Neck loose loose loose. Roots in front of my eyes. Pelvis down. Drop. Down. Throw the weight. Land on moss. Wet. Watch the wind. Branches bare. Swaying. Just lying. No more standing. Just lying. We are. 

I think that as a dancer, moving outdoors in different terrain and under different weather conditions makes my body much more responsive to the environment. The movement vocabulary grows really creative, bringing me in unpredictable directions. I keep getting inspired by the multitude of sensorial information I receive from nature. This combination - noticing how vulnerable I am as a human being, the relaxing effect on the nervous system, exploring improvisational tools in dance -  easily lands somewhere at the edge of the therapeutic and the artistic. And I can only confirm that it feels that I have been dancing on that edge the entire time, appreciating the gentleness of every process I have encountered myself.

Sentience is, perhaps, what arises in the shared spaces. That aliveness, tingling, pulse, vibration, pull towards… as a response to the presence of the other. And the longer I stay in those shared spaces the more I recognise that I am actually standing in my own presence, or that there is no certain other.

 

All images on this page are copyright of the artist Dagmara Maslowska

Top: 'Introducing Myself to the Forest While Working on 'Among Mothers' in Ekudden, Porvoo' (2024). Digital image. 

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Bottom: 'Untitled' (2024). Digital image.