The current climate emergency, resulting in deforestation and global warming, requires us to take action to protect the ecosystem and allow the earth to breathe new life. To commemorate World Earth Day, THEMOIRè and Perimetro present YOUR ROOTS, a photography project that celebrates the tree as an emblem of nature: the tree that has roots in the deep layers of the earth growing upwards towards the sky, creating clean air and possibilities for the future.

Through a contest that took place from March 9th through April 3rd involving Perimetro’s community of photographers, a collection of photographs was created developing a visual story that describes the emotional connection binding each artist to a tree. Each selected photographer will receive a gift of five trees to help finalize a reforestation project in Nepal in partnership with TreeNation, for a total of 120 trees planted and 96,000 kg of CO2 offset. To date, THEMOIRè has planted nearly 30,000 trees in 12 countries through which more than 1,000 tons of CO2 have been absorbed.

The project acts as a campaign to raise awareness of climate change issues among an international audience: from a virtual forest, created by THEMOIRè, to an emotional forest that aims to stimulate individuals’ commitment to nature.

The collaboration with Cascina Cuccagna is shaped in this perspective, a farmhouse dating back to 1695 that reopened to the public in 2005 thanks to the City of Milan and the social enterprise that was formed from the union of entities that spread innovation ideas, sustainable services and educational projects, specifically the Vivaio La Botanica Macramè by La Mescolanza Impresa Sociale, which supports young boys in vulnerable conditions, and the Falegnameria Cuccagna aimed at the training and inclusion of young migrant boys.

What connection do we have with trees?

Each of us has a memory tree, firmly planted with its roots in our emotional past.

Surely, we can recall a “special tree” that we climbed as children, perhaps one that was planted to celebrate the birth of a family member, or perhaps one that towered over our grandparents’ home and shaded the windows with greenery, creating light and shadow effects with the rays filtering through the leaves.

Throughout our lives, how many times did we pause to look at it? As much as everything was changing in the world, there it was, a constant presence.

We have witnessed the passing of seasons and years, as leaves fell and sprouted anew, yet it still stands: unmoving, stable, a point of reference.

The landscape around it has taken new forms, but the tree has not. On the same branches where, as children, we would cling for hours on end creating adventurous and imaginary characters, and today we find our children playing on the same branches.

The stories that bind us to trees are visceral and highly personal. That is why we asked the authors of our community to tell them to us.

On World Earth Day, THEMOIRè and Perimetro, moved by the same need to celebrate the tree as an emblem of Nature, create an exhibition that aims to express the relationship we have with plants through the representation of an emotional forest.

Sebastiano Leddi, founder of Perimetro