Ghost Forest

It's not often this blog focuses on works of art, but an installation at the University Oxford Natural History Museum has a huge installation of trees felled in the Ghana rainforest.
For some reason, there seem to be less tourists in Oxford at bank holiday weekends, so an ideal chance to have a look at it.
.

The work of artist Angela Palmer, the Ghost Forest installation has previously been exhibited in Trafalgar Square, London and Thorvaldsens Plads, Copenhagen. 
The aim of the project is draw attention to the scale of deforestation in the worlds tropical rainforestsr. Currently an area the size of Belgium is cleared each year.
.

An information display tells how these trees were felled from a licenced logging company, which can only fell selected trees in a given area and when complete, the area must be left for several years for sapplings to grow and the forest to regenerate.
.

I'm not an art critic but I would have liked more information on how us as individuals could play our part in supporting such schemes as the one in Ghana
Still, there is no doubt the stumps are very impressive, as this 360 degree panorama fails to show: 
.

The installation will be in place until July 2011 an I would recommend it to anyone who is in the area and any opportunity to visit the wonderful University of Oxford Natural History Museum - my favourite place in Oxford, if not the world - should be taken.
More information on the Ghost Forest project (complete with better pictures) can be found at:
http://www.ghostforest.org