Tiny Tree Tenants
2025
Digital inkjet print on canvas, 12 x 18 inch

As I walked past trees, I often wondered whether the knots in their trunks might contain entire different worlds. If tiny people lived inside the wood, and their windows appeared to us as knots or cracks, what kinds of lives would they be living? This idea began as a simple curiosity. I once tried expressing it through a wood-based artwork, but because the concept involved a storyline, it was difficult to fully convey it with small drawings alone. For this project, I decided to revisit that earlier idea and combine it with digital media.

If people were living inside a tree, each would have their own daily life. But considering that a tree generally has a cylindrical, vertical form, I imagined their lifestyle resembling the structure of an apartment building. With an elevator-like core at the center, these residents would use it not only for moving between floors but also for transporting the tree’s energy and moisture essential for living. Although they could come outside the tree, the risk would be high, so I imagined that everything—places to eat, rest, and learn—would exist inside the trunk. Based on this, I created the following drawing. The environment inside the tree is influenced by sunlight, the tree’s primary source of energy. I used the colors of a light prism as the foundation for the overall coloration.