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A Pure Spirit Grows Beneath the Bark of Stones
Amélie Labourdette
Series description

Like the eponymous verse of Gérard de Nerval’s poem, A Pure Spirit Grows Beneath the Bark of Stones celebrates an ontological pluralism in its effort to recognise a form of sensitivity and subjectivity in forest natural entities. This series echoes two bodies of images:

One testifies to the ancestral memory of primordial forests. Like original photographic prints, the fossils of the oldest forests on Earth found in the Middle Devonian Catskills (dating back 385 million years) embody the memory of these first forests through the phenomena of long and silent transmutations of plant into mineral.

The other reveals the vibrant spectrum of contemporary forests; the survival of an archaic spirit that manifests itself at the heart of the present forests.

Biography

In 2016, Amélie won the SWPA in the category Architecture, with Empire of Dust.
In 2017, she was awarded a grant by the CNAP for Traces of a human occupation.
From 2017 to 2018, she completed the KÓSMOS project in the American Southwest thanks to a Sony grant, then at the Fieldwork Art-residency.
In 2020, KÓSMOS is selected as finalists for the Louis Roederer Discovery Award.
In 2021, she joins the Photographic Collection of the CNAP with the KÓSMOS series.

A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Devonian Forests / Catskill Fossil Forests
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Devonian Forests / Catskill Fossil Forests
Archaeopteris hibernica fronds, Catskill Delta Complex. Paleobotany Collection, New York State Museum, Albany NY.
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Contemporary forests / The spirit of the forest
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Contemporary forests / The spirit of the forest
Mossy forest. Communal forest of Noidant-le-Rocheux, Haute-Marne, France.
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Devonian Forests / Catskill Fossil Forests
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Devonian Forests / Catskill Fossil Forests
Eospermatopteris / wattieza: trunk and crown with attached branches, South Mountain, Catskill Delta Complex. Paleobotany Collection, New York State Museum, Albany NY.
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Contemporary forests / The spirit of the forest
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Contemporary forests / The spirit of the forest
Mossy forest. Communal forest of Noidant-le-Rocheux, Haute-Marne, France.
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Devonian Forests / Catskill Fossil Forests
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Devonian Forests / Catskill Fossil Forests
Archaeopteris foliage, Upper Devonian, Catskill Delta Complex. Paleobotany Collection, New York State Museum, Albany NY.
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Contemporary forests / The spirit of the forest
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Contemporary forests / The spirit of the forest
Mossy forest. Communal forest of Noidant-le-Rocheux, Haute-Marne, France.
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Devonian Forests / Catskill Fossil Forests
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Devonian Forests / Catskill Fossil Forests
Plant roots, Gilboa Forest, Catskill Delta Complex. Paleobotany Collection, New York State Museum, Albany NY.
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Contemporary forests / The spirit of the forest
A pure spirit grows beneath the bark of stones / Contemporary forests / The spirit of the forest
Senance gorge, Noidant-le-Rocheux forest, Haute-Marne, France.