Os Espíritos da Árvore
One of the craziest moments of my life was during the Covid pandemic that started in Brazil in early 2020. This subject is quite complex and we are still feeling the consequences of this historic event. Like many people, I was isolated in my apartment in Porto Alegre and what we thought would be a period of a few months became much more than that. So when I realized that the “quarantine” would not end so quickly, I made the decision to leave for the interior of Rio Grande do Sul and stay with my family. It was during this rather chaotic and disturbing period that I had this incredible experience of making a terrarium for a hotel.
It all started after a big storm that ended up knocking down a huge tree over a fence. The owners of the place would cut down the tree and make firewood. But when I heard about the incident, I went running there to steal some moss and plants that were living in the tree to make some terrariums for myself. Needless to say, how much I love terrariums and the idea of creating a closed ecosystem that is self-sufficient and, if done well, forever!
The nearby hotel had a space they were planning to redo the garden they had and I made myself available to make a terrarium on the spot with the remains of the tree. The proposal was very simple and at the same time poetic: bring the life that was sustained in the tree to the terrarium and keep alive the plants that would otherwise be discarded. Therefore, I cannot fail to emphasize how the terrarium is in part an extension of the tree that fell.
During the construction of the terrarium, I had the opportunity to document the process with the help of my sister Giulia Palermo. The result is what you saw.
I followed the evolution of the terrarium throughout the pandemic, but in the middle of 2021 I returned to my home in Porto Alegre and stopped following it. The curious fact is that those who worked at the hotel ended up incorporating new plants and even some insects into the terrarium, making this ecosystem even more incredible.
