Artist Karen Olson is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘Hold Me In Truth’. To see Karen ’s body of work, click on any photograph.

I come to a complete stop and look up. My eyes slowly follow the aged, fluid lines of the trunk to the canopy above. I find both strength and fragility there—a holding fast and a surrendering. I return to the same trees day after day. Today I visit them in the early morning sunlight; tomorrow, beneath the muted white light of an overcast afternoon. Season after season, their quiet beauty steadies me, supporting me and holding me in truth.

This work emerges from these daily encounters. I delight in expressing the sensory impressions they leave behind. The tactile practice of folding, crumpling, shaping, and burning paper connects me to my immediate environment in much the same way that walking in the forest does. It is a process of paying attention through the body, engaging sight, touch, sound, and movement. Paper feels like the natural language for this exploration—responsive, resilient, and capable of holding both gesture and memory.

Artist Statement

When trees converse, the air is charged with fragrances, hormones, and electrical exchanges. Placing myself in the middle of this conversation, I am illuminated by it. These experiences—shaped by hours spent walking the trails near my home in Midcoast Maine—form the foundation of my creative inquiry. I explore the intersection of human emotion and the natural world, investigating how our connection with nature supports mental health and interpersonal communication. My work is driven by a desire to understand both the scientific and the soulful dimensions of this relationship.

As a lens-based artist, papermaker, and paper sculptor, I weave together photography, handmade paper, and place-based practices to explore how perception is shaped through material engagement. Informed by my training as a forest therapy guide, my work emphasizes relationship with the landscape, resonance, and attunement—where making becomes a form of listening and the work emerges through sustained attention, presence, and reciprocity.