HEADER
“The tree of life”: Gua Tewet, Borneo, Indonesia (c. 40,000 years ago). Palaeolithic rock art, mulberry negative stencils of human hand-prints; on the wall of a rock shelter dug into a mountain in rainforest above the Marang River. Public domain.
Self-portrait in office. I am in the foreground, pictured from the shoulders up. In the background are bookcases (French and medieval literature, modern literary criticism and theory, poetry and poetics). A potus plant is on top of the bookcase. Its vines entangle the shelves and sides below, and seem to grow out of my ear. Originally arranged as a background while teaching online, then photographed for use as a Zoom background. Composition and photo: Juliet O’Brien, 2023.
Ecocritical still life. Four square compartments in conjoining bookcases with books (Nick Sousanis, “Unflattening”; Robert Macfarlane, “Holloway”; Andy Goldsworthy, Yorkshire Sculpture Park exhibit catalogue; Rachel Carson, “The Sea Around Us”; Jeff VanderMeer, “Wonderbook”; Jean-Michel Folon, “La Mort d’un arbre), plants, a crocheted cactus, and an Atlantic puffin figurine (used to be a keyring until liberated from its chain). Originally arranged as a background while teaching from home under pandemic lockdown, then photographed for use as a Zoom background. Composition and photo: Juliet O’Brien, 2020.