Hurlevent

In the winters of 2011 and 2012, David Willen accompanied foresters into the woodlands of the Engadine for tree-felling. This experience resulted in a series of several dozen pictures of falling trees.

Usually, the trees to be felled are selected for specific structural and economic reasons. For this project, however, the forester allowed David to decide on the landscape setting and pick the fir tree to be cut. By choosing black and white processing and avoiding motion blur as much as possible, the resulting landscape pictures evoke the style of historical photography. Only the snow drifts and the leaning trees – captured in the moment of falling – reveal a rift in the representation of the topos of unspoilt nature and indicate that the classical motif has been deliberately disrupted.