The trees will tell you

Words and photographs © Niels Devisscher. All rights reserved.

Ancient stories tell of hollows in the trunk of trees as gateways to the otherworld. In British folklore, peering into tree holes could transport a person into the fairy realm or cast visions of the spirit world. All across the globe — from the Yggdrasil or World Tree in Norse mythology to the Banyan Tree in Indian mythology, a tree is seen as the mediator between the vertical planes of existence, connecting the upper and underworld. There is something profound and eternal about trees that have always captured the human imagination. 

A woman standing in a lush green forest, holding a microphone and looking at it, surrounded by tall trees and rocks.

When the world of man-made things
Of human civilization and
The separation it imposes
Feels too heavy
May you find peace in the forest
Of your dreams
Among the pines and cedar trees
Where life spills over
With poetic possibility
And the symbiotic profusion
Of a world always seeking to mend
Loose ends
Into luscious harmony

A foggy forest scene with tall trees and green foliage, shrouded in mist.

The young beech bent over, standing quietly and all by itself in the sea of snow, or the centuries-old oak, whose long branches provide shelter, shade, and solace to the sole wanderer. Trees, groves, and forests each have unique quality of mind. How we think and feel in their presence is distinctive. What if thoughts and feelings aren’t things we possess individually but are intrinsic qualities of the landscapes we set foot on and are enveloped by?

A solitary, bent tree with sparse branches stands in a snow-covered landscape, with a few broken branches.

Tristesse

Belgium, 2017

A large, leafless tree covered with snow stands in the middle of a snow-covered field, with a line of trees in the distance on a cloudy, overcast day.

Shelter

Belgium, 2019

A black and white photograph of a solitary, large tree with twisted branches standing in a foggy landscape.

A good photograph is an invitation to behold, and beholding stimulates our curiosity. The life behind the face, the forest hidden beyond the misty veil. There is an urgent desire to know and quench our hunger to know, yet, at the same time, there is something strangely captivating about dwelling in the tension of not knowing. To sit with mystery and be wholly overtaken by it. Answers not known, but felt in the body as resonance.

The Mystic

Madeira, 2018

A black and white photo of a lone, bent tree with no leaves, standing on a flat, empty landscape.

Towards You

Madeira, 2018

A black and white photo of a small wooden house with a snow-covered roof, surrounded by a snowy landscape with a large leafless tree beside it.

Hermit

Bavaria, 2018

Trees share their fruits generously, without expectation of return. Through this generosity — the cycle of giving and receiving and giving back, a relationship is being created and nurtured.

Perception is always the beginning of a twofold relationship. When I perceive an oak, I am also being perceived by that oak. Someone touches us, and we extend that touch by sharing our representation — a token of what touched us, with others. Like the woodpecker who carries an acorn beyond its origin, photographs travel far. They hold the potential to enchant people far beyond the subject’s immediate context. 

Black and white photograph of tall, slender palm trees on a hillside with misty mountains in the background.

Tribe

Valle di Cocora, 2019

Black and white image of a hillside with tall, thin palm trees and a single white horse standing on the grass.

White Horse

Valle di Cocora, 2019

A solitary tree standing in water with a reflection, in a misty or foggy landscape with distant mountains.

New Life

Thailand, 2018