A UNIQUE exhibition of tree photography is being staged this month at the Blue Pantry in Fore Street, Wellington.

Juhi Saklani, a visiting artist from India, has her work on display at the shop.

In keeping with the environmentally friendly ethics of the Blue Pantry, the photographs have been hung using twine and locally grown and harvested bamboo and hazel wood.

The exhibition is entitled ‘Dreaming of Trees’. Juhi said: “This work has been put together against a background of regular headlines about trees being cut for buildings, motorways, mining projects, high-speed trains and much more.

“Initially, it gave me solace to spend time in the company of trees, photographing them. I wanted to plead with my viewers: This image is not a work of art, the work of art already exists in the tree. Go look at the tree, really look. The photographs have a slightly surreal, dream-like quality. Most of the images are digital collages in which I photographically ‘plant’ trees on photos of houses, books, maps and other objects.”

Blue Pantry owner Gary Todd said: “We’ve had a wonderful response to the work from people coming into the shop. The images of trees really seem to speak to people.”

The exhibition opening was packed and buzzing with activity. Anita Roy of Transition Town Wellington took the opportunity to talk about the group’s Urban Street Tree project which hopes to transform the centre of town by planting more trees along the high street.

All the prints are available to order and buy from the Blue Pantry and the exhibition is on until the end of August.