I find the bones of an animal who has lost its life. The bone is lying amongst pine needles, grasses and lichens under a pine. There are no other bones nearby. What did the animal die of? Was it sick or old or had it been injured in some way? Did it come to die here in the shelter of the pine or did someone bring this bone here from somewhere else to eat unseen or hide away?

Fungi spores find a fallen log, their hyphae finding their way into the wood, absorbing, decomposing and transforming the dead tree into something else, for others to find and change.

Humans find wood washed up on a beach and make a shelter from it, a crow finds the shelter and uses it as a perch.

The forest floor is full of shortlived signs of creatures passing through, things that other beings have lost or let go off, as well as the beings themselves. There are grasses, dead leaves, pine needles and cones, deer droppings, feathers, sticks and branches, mosses and ferns as well as the soil and many small beings that are mostly invisible to my eyes.

Anja Byg‘s previous existences include those of an ecologist, ethnobotanist and social scientist. She is currently in the process of transitioning to an as yet unknown form of existence. For the time being she dwells in Scotland.

Photos & text © Anja Byg 2021.