The work presented here consists of video and photographs shot in 2019 during a six-week performance in a forest plantation in Shigaraki when Capone visited Shiga prefecture. Each day, the artist went barefoot into the winter forest, holding up his hand to sugi and hinoki trees (Japanese cedar and cypress trees) one after another. These ritual acts demonstrated his consideration for the trees, and in a sense they also represented a form of apology.

Plantations of trees are designed for efficient growth of timber, mainly for industrial purposes. For that reason, they are usually created by clear-cutting a certain area of land, then planting seedlings that are all of the same type and age. Sad to say, there are a number of problems with forests created in this manner. They have poor resilience against storms and flood damage, and against diseases and insect pests. Moreover, because conifers like sugi and hinoki do not produce fruits, they are linked to food shortages for wild animals. Capone is painfully aware of the vulnerabilities that such artificial plantations entail, but at the same time he is aware that such trees support our way of life by providing a vital source of energy and construction materials. By exposing his own body to the inhospitable environment and repeatedly conducting a ritual that might be considered a futile effort, he seems to be earnestly praying that his solo intervention can somehow mediate between humankind and nature. Or perhaps he is attempting to atone for the fact that the sorts of co-existence that humans can suggest are so distorted.

The artist reaches out to the trees, but cannot touch them directly. Through the simple and reflective performance of holding up his hands, Capone foregrounds the rift between humans and nature, while also representing our desire to somehow seek harmony with oneʼs natural surroundings.

While a student on a Bachelor of Visual Arts course at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia (Perth), Jacobus Capone conducted a performance project to love (2007), that involved walking all the way across Australia with seawater from the Indian Ocean, which he poured into the Pacific Ocean. The same year, after graduation, he started producing photography and video installations that mainly featured his own performances. In 2016, he was the winner of the John Stringer Prize, awarded annually to a Western Australian contemporary artist. The following year, he presented a solo exhibition Forgiving Night for Day at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art as part of the 2017 Perth International Arts Festival (Australia). This work functions as Act 2 of Capone’s larger ongoing “Forewarning” project.

Selected Works & Awards

2020

TerraWarra Museum of Art, Australia

2019

Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan

2017

Forgiving Night for Day, 2017 Perth International Arts Festival, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Australia

2016

John Stringer Prize

2014

Momentum Berlin, Germany

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• Forewarning, Act 2 (Sincerity & Symbiosis), 2019
• Photo: ToLoLo studio