INTERVENTION - PLANT A TREE DIY TUTORIAL

The work Plant a Tree – DIY Tutorial explores the interplay between human connection to urban living and the contrasting experience of being in nature. Its central theme is a return to natural development and growth. Through photomontage, the artist references the well-known saying “Build a house, plant a tree, write a book,” pointing to one of the many stages that precede the onset of a conventional way of life. The work questions an idealized life trajectory and reinterprets it through the lens of a DIY concept. The result is a piece that finds a symbolic point of anchorage in the process of seeking one’s own stability. It reflects a phase of inexperience in which a person attempts to build a foundation without sufficient resources, knowledge, or certainty.

The planted tree thus becomes both a temporary structure and a memento of perseverance under constraint. At the same time, it serves as a statement of determination, where despite limitations and moments of uncertainty, a natural desire to grow emerges.

The intervention was created during 30 minutes of silence on the Island of Love (Ostrov lásky) in the area of the Ružín reservoir. Ružín is a key water source that supplies and powers major industrial enterprises in the region. Currently,however, this reservoir faces a severe period of drought, directly bridging the personal dimension of the work with a global one. The fragile attempt to plant a tree and build one’s own stability from scratch takes place against the backdrop of a drying landscape—where the lack of personal certainty mirrors the burning issue of the climate crisis and the depletion of resources on which society relies.