Trunk Supporter
Upstater Magazine Spring 2017 | By Hannah PhillipsIn her new book of photographs, Trunks of the Gunks (Black Dome Press, 2016), Nora Scarlett captures the artistry of nature.
While many artists have focused on the panorama of the Shawangunk Ridge, Scarlett goes smaller scale. Each image is a tightly framed snapshot of a tree inside Minnewaska State Park, the Mohonk Preserve, or the grounds of the Mohonk Mountain House.
Roots jut up from a solid bedrock base in one image. A tree with a large chunk bitten out of it balances on a roadside, engulfed in mist in another. One of the photos inside the “Smile” section shows a tree bent in a forward-leaning bow, its colorful leaves shining bright against a field in autumn. Elsewhere in the book, a tree is twisted into a freestanding circle.
Scarlett includes a key to the photographs at the end, but seekers be warned. “I can’t find some of the trees,” Scarlett says, with a trace of jesting exasperation, “but they’re out there somewhere.”