pencil on paper
60 x 55 cm
2026
In various cultures across different periods, the aspen is associated with the underworld and afterlife.
The particular shape of its leaves makes the wind sound like a rustling that resembles the whispering of spirits. As a result the aspen is sometimes called “the whispering tree”, and considered to be gathering places for ancestors, forest spirits and all sorts of energies. The rustling we hear is the sound of their gathering. Or sometimes believed to be the voice of the tree itself communicating. In Gaelic-speaking lands aspen leaves were placed on the tongue to encourage eloquence.
Aspens connection with the underworld goes back to 3000 BCE. In Mesopotamia, the dead wore crowns of aspen leaves in their burial mounds to ease entry to the afterlife. The aspen leaf is the key to life after death.