This is a collection containing the pieces created or shown once again for a show that Sara has at White Rabbit Coffee Co. in Nanaimo, BC. The show is titled Waldeinsamkeit.
Waldeinsamkeit is a German word that is a combination of wald meaning forest, and einsamkeit meaning loneliness, or solitude. We experience waldeinsamkeit in the moments when we are surrounded by the forest and feel totally at peace.
There has always been something about the woods that feels so familiar to me and yet so foreign. I plan to spend my lifetime trying to understand that feeling and immerse myself in it.
Hands have long interested me as a writer and as an artist. A person’s hands, after all, can tell you a lot about who they are and what they do in life, and what we do is intrinsically tied to who we are. Hands are also a large part of what makes us able to accomplish all that we do as a species and set us apart from most others.
I thought, what if I take these parts of me that make me so human and I imagine a forest where the trees are more than what we assume them to be. What if a tree is a god, birthed quietly in the crystal clear waters of a still pond. What if a root system is a tree’s hand and in the morning, they travel in herds on the pads of their fingers?
And what happens when those gods grow up. What if they shed their skins and become the silent caretakers?
Next time you find yourself in the woods, ask, “Am I truly alone?”
Sara Holmes is a graphic designer and artist located on the unceded territory of the Snuneymeux First Nation. They hold a bachelor of design in Graphic Design obtained from VIU in 2020. They make stickers and pins through their small business ‘Wisterium’, also known as ‘fox & koi’. Sara is the Operations Manager here at the Station and has been responsible for coordinating the artist rotation at White Rabbit for the last 4 years, amongst other duties. This is their first public show.
To purchase a piece from Sara, you can find the collection online at wisterium.co or you can shop some of the work next door at The General. Pick-up for work will be at the end of February or be communicated to you. Stickers will be ready for pick-up within 2 business days, whereas prints will require printing.
You can follow Sara on instagram at @saramarieholmes or @wisteriums.
