Beneath the Bark

The cork oak tree, known as Quercus suber, is native to the Alentejo region in Portugal, where these photographs were taken. This series explores the patterns and intricacies hidden within these evergreen trees.

Beneath the Bark was the first project I had been able to fully immerse myself into since graduating university in 2021. It was January 2024, and I had gone for a walk around my father's vineyard in the Alentejo, and found two piles of logs. As I wandered over with my camera in my hand I quickly got lost in the patterns and intricacies hidden beneath the bark. I had never seen anything like it. Completely overwhelmed with what I was seeing, I went on to take 459 photographs in two days. I narrowed it down to a selection of 20, which I then exhibited at ARTROOM, in Lisbon, one month later.

The series is made up of photographs taken from two different piles of oak logs. One pile was a fallen branch belonging to a 250 year old holm oak tree (Quercus ilex), and the other pile belonged to cork oak trees (Quercus suber), known as Azinheira and Sobreiro in Portuguese, respectively.