Tree Ears, Bird Voices

Paths of rivers traced on tree barks, the map of a city located in a bulbul’s heart – Praneet Soi investigates imprints left by lost homes, finds Arushi Vats.

- Arushi Vats

Praneet Soi. The Olive Tree and the Bul-Bul. Acrylic, silverpoint, and graphite on canvas. 78.7”x 78.7”. 2021. Image courtesy of the artist and Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi.

In the poem, Tree Gossip with the Birds, Naomi Shihab Nye writes, “Human thoughts bounce hard inside the brain… / But tree bird gossip floats sweetly.” Nye is sitting in Gossip Cafe, Dubai, suspended between the opulence of the space and the difficult realities unfolding in Syria and Palestine. Talk in the human world is dangerous, with words akin to shrapnel, rupturing injuries, or striking anew. She contemplates the symphony of birds, the notes conveying the churn of seasons, the cycles of decay and renewal. With “tree ears” and “bird voices”, “No one gets hurt it’s gentle gossip.”