(Commissioned by the City of Argenteuil, France in 2006)

"Tree of Photosynthesis" has been produced for the first time in Argenteuil. "Tree of Photosynthesis" is the key element of the project « Air in Peril » which was conceived in 2004 - in the same year I produced "Molecule of Oxygen" in New York.

The 20-meter-high Catalpa tree bears 1500 plastic discs, of dimensions close to those of its real leaves. These plastic discs contain photochromic pigments, and thus the tree with the artificial leaves endeavours to revive photosynthesis through changing color: they are violet while receiving solar rays but become translucent milky-white by night.
In the day, in accordance with the intensity of solar rays which hit it, each disc is uniquely colored, depending on its position in the tree. The course of the sun makes for variation in the coloring of each disc, from brillant violet to pale pink which is almost transluscent.  

The idea of this project is to offer people a time to reflect on the relationship between nature and human activities, and to illustrate for them the latter's grave consequences, such as the degeneration of ecosystems in forests - the lungs of the Earth.

In Argenteuil, once the leaves fall and disappear, the artificial leaves will be unveiled, and the tree's transformation
into "Tree of Photosynthesis" will be complete.


Beyond this exhibition, a permanent "Tree of Photosynthesis" would stand as a constant reminder and prompt to
consciousness concerning the relationship between nature and human activities.  (S. H.)


See "Air in Peril" Project