Of Limbs, Leaves, and Hope: A Portrait of Philadelphias Urban Forest in Times of a Pandemic

(Paperback)

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Description

Of Limbs, Leaves, and Hope represents the unforeseen gain of biophilic relief from the coronavirus pandemic.

Forced to work remotely because of COVID-19, daily walks and bike rides became an essential distraction from hours of uninterrupted screen time. Photography became a pastime, and as weeks turned into months the city began to present itself anew: streets, plazas, parks, church grounds, cemeteries, and untold nooks and crannies not before seen or recorded. Trees soon began to dominate the compositions, as if beckoning to stand out against the gridiron construction. And so, the project began: to record the presence of trees as foreground actors of the everyday urban landscape.

Beginning in the spring of 2020, hundreds of photographs were taken, often times of the same tree at different times of the day, under varying light conditions, and through the seasons. A sense of intimacy developed: of seeing how a plant breathes-in the city over time, silently, exhaling in return nurturing permanence and resilience.

Reviews

"During 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, on daily walks and bike rides, Ignacio F. Bunster-Ossa, FASLA, documented the trees in his urban landscape around Philadelphia. Of Limbs, Leaves, and Hope captures trunks and canopies in black-and-white photographs, a medium that highlights the seasonal changes of light and foliage alongside the buildings and infrastructure of the city. A slim volume with only a smattering of text, the book calls attention to the important biophilic properties of trees that link life-forms together." --Landscape Architecture Magazine

Author Bio

Ignacio F. Bunster-Ossa is a landscape architect and principal at the Collaborative, a multidisciplinary planning and design firm with a focusses on community design and resilience.