About: HeartWood (in progress)

The concept…

Redwood trees, the giants of California, the tallest lifeforms on Earth, are meant to burn. In a fire, redwoods explode seeds - about 5000. Once the fire has passed, the seeds become the children sitting at the feet of the mother tree. The tree slowly comes back to life. Sometimes hollow, sometimes charred. The green needles begin to repopulate the burnt branches. This is how you recover. This is how you heal from trauma.

In HeartWood, Jodi Lomask and Marcus Maria Jung come together to tell a very Californian story of climate change, forestry, trauma, resiliency, and the leadership of Redwoods. An interactive sculptural installation made of reclaimed redwood from massive forest fires. A dance performance overlaid with the voices of fire survivors from Middletown, California and other forest fire sites impacted by climate change. Events integrating forest ecologists and climate scientists will share the latest findings from climate-amplified fires and the profound secrets of the Redwood. Lomask and Jung will implement their respective educational programs utilizing the new sculptures - Capacitor’s STEM Portals educational program and Jung’s Nature Walk & Natural Wood Sculpture Art Class.

In HeartWood, the redwood trunk is open and smoothed to the heartwood of the tree. The sculpture, over ten feet tall and approximately the width of a human trunk, is meant to be hugged by humans who put their own hearts next to that of the redwood. Embrace. 

A twin sculpture, also over ten feet high and approximately the width of a human, is hollowed out by fire. In this sculpture, the participant is meant to step into the trunk. Be Embraced.

Under the static of social media, Ai technology, and rapid social, climate, and economic change, we need to align with trees more than ever and go below to the HeartWood. Redwoods are our ancient California ancestors. They show us how to weather the fire and reemerge thriving.

In HeartWood, the participant approaches the reclaimed redwood stump that is smoothed out and open to the red heartwood on the inside. The participant is encouraged to hug the sculpture by placing their heart next to the redwood heartwood. This exercise is meant to calibrate and regulate the participant’s vibration. It is also meant to recognize the common thread among the living Earth. It is meant to be a restorative justice ritual for all the wrongs committed against forests and trees by humans.

The sculpture will be surrounded by rings of flowers as an apology and as a symbol of hope. The piece is a sculpture, a ritual, a reckoning, and a visioning. It can be presented indoors or outdoors. 

This multisensory experience is both a personal and collective journey, reminding visitors of the deep interconnections between humanity and nature. Through the act of physically embracing the sculpture, participants calibrate and regulate their own vibrations while acknowledging their role in the greater ecological system. HeartWood is a call for restoration—both personal and environmental—a reckoning with the historical exploitation of forests and a vision for renewal.

It all started when…

I was guiding creative journeys in a burnt redwood valley. For three years, I spent hours holding space for individuals who were contending with their lives and trauma in the site of a natural disaster - the CZU Lightning Complex fires in Davenport. The blackened redwood trunks were the backdrop for these transformative experiences. It was ideal. They were coming back to life as the trees surrounding them were. It was obvious to everyone involved that the Redwoods were the masters of this process.