24 sculpted trees form giant colored pencils in South African land art

Strijdom van der Merwe, an artist, has teamed up with property owner Michael Silver and arborist Lloyd Dambuza to create 'Deus sive Natura' (God or Nature), a land art piece featuring 24 sculpted Water Oaks designed to resemble oversized colored pencils. This installation is situated in a gorge in South Africa, where the non-native trees draw moisture from the nearby mountains. A pruning technique has been employed to maintain the lower sections for ongoing growth while transforming the upper branches into pencil shapes. The title alludes to Baruch Spinoza's 17th-century idea of nature and divinity as a single entity. This transient artwork evolves with natural growth cycles, seasonal changes, and regeneration.