SALIX is a multimedia installation including 16mm film, sound, and zine about the aliveness of the willow tree and it’s cultural memory and animism throughout time. The 16mm film was shot and written by Torey features sound by LAAMAR and serves as a portrait and poem, an alter, a devotion. The zine, written by Torey and designed by Ian Babineau, includes stories, healing properties, recipes, propagation techniques, and a performance invitation by Miriam Karracker.

The work considers the delicate memories of the tree - how it has been considered a portal to other dimensions, lining cemeteries to ward off the unrested, a liminal tree between land and water, connecting to celestial bodies, a green curtain to hidden deeper knowledge of earth than humans can comprehend.

The work was installed at MIRRORLAB in Minneapolis, Minnesota and generously funded by the Minnesota State Arts Board. It was installed during the pandemic and projected onto the gallery windows with sound speakers outside of the gallery. The zine was free to attendees in a small wood box outside of the gallery.

The film has since been included in Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s FROM THE EARTH Exhibition and Franconia Sculpture Parks’ Franconia Summer Film screening of environmental films as part of the 4Ground Land Art Biennial.

SALIX zine can be purchased at Minnesota Center for Book Arts in Minneapolis, MN and The Plains Art Museum in Fargo, ND.

16MM FILM: TOREY ERIN // POEM: WRITTEN BY TOREY ERIN // SOUND: GEOFFREY LAMAR WILSON (LAAMAR) // ZINE: WRITTEN BY TOREY ERIN // DESIGNED BY IAN BABINEAU // ZINE INVITATION: MIRIAM KARRACKER // FUNDED BY THE MINNESOTA STATE ARTS BOARD ARTIST INITIATIVE GRANT ​​