ArtistAmanda Sauer

Bertolt (with Leo standing)

Date2018

MediumToned silver gelatin print

DimensionsImage Size: 18 × 14 in. (45.7 × 35.6 cm) Paper Size: 19 × 15 in. (48.3 × 38.1 cm) Framed Size: 25 1/4 × 21 1/4 in. (64.1 × 54 cm)

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection

Object numberDCCAH2019.048

ClassificationsPhotographs

Locations

Mayor's Office of Legal Counsel (1350 Penn Ave NW, STE 407)

DescriptionSometimes, with the right light and vantage point, the stature and gesture of a tree can appear almost human. This imagined relationship sparks a connection. Amanda Sauer makes tree portraits in which human intervention is visible, using the tree as both subject and metaphor. Here, the tree is named Bertolt, and a child named Leo stands against its mighty trunk. As Sauer writes, in a complex and daunting world, “to love a tree is to find the courage to face the future.”