Victory

I shot the series "Victory" in 2021 in the German Harz mountains where the local forests were heavily infested by the bark beetle. Within a very short time thousand hectares of the popular hiking region were transformed into an apocalyptic landscape. The trees were weakened by the drought and the beetle could spread largely unhindered in the spruce monocultures, which are much less resilient to pests than mixed forests. The region is a striking illustration of human-induced climate change and unsustainable forest management. The series is part of my project "A Kingdom for a Tree", inspired by William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett. It features a woman in black wandering through barren landscapes. Man has subdued the earth, exploited nature and ultimately defeated it. It is the world after: she is the sole survivor, no animals or plants to be seen. Thrown back on herself, her memories and dreams she stages absurd scenes that defy logic. It's all for nothing because everything seems futile – so everything is possible. What can be done, is there a future? How to take a stand when all seems lost? More: https://www.aleksandra-sawa.com/work-kingdom