In When The Wind Speaks, May We Listen, I present myself as an intercessor, peeling back the layers of time and history, to bring contradictions to the surface for reflection. I draw upon the poetry of Jaleleddin Rumi, a philosopher from Balkh, in present-day Afghanistan as a tool for understanding the present moment. His words, rooted in a distant land, highlight the paradoxical nature of belonging within this context. Kwenzakaleni? What has happened?

A powerful gust of wind toppled an oak that had stood for over a century (planted in 1865) in the compound of the Moederkerk, a church built in 1723. This monumental tree, now lying fallen, no longer grips the soil it was once rooted in. The life and fall of this oak symbolize broader social histories, of displacement, transplantation, and the fragile illusion of permanence. In conversations with locals and community members, it became clear that the tree still lives on in their memories. It possesses an afterlife.

As an intercessor, I engage with the fallen oak, not only as a relic of the past but as a witness to the complexities of belonging. How many prayers did its leaves hear? How many weddings, how many burials did it witness? What was the relationship between this tree and the Indigenous people of Stellenbosch? How was the tree integrated into their practices? What form of naturalisation did this tree experience in Stellenbosch?

Now, 160 years later the wind and heart rot that felled it, echo histories both spoken and silenced - of settlers, of displaced Indigenous peoples, and of the land itself, in resistance to the narratives imposed on it. In its fall, the tree compels us to confront the weight of memory. It invites us to gaze at the root and question what we memorialise and what we allow to decay.

This project is an act of listening - listening to the land, its layered past and the stories that emerge when what once stood is now fallen apart.

Special thanks to:

• Stellenbosch Moederkerk

• Overberg Arborists

• Stellenbosch Trail Fund

• Jeroen Slee

• Oude Leeskamer          

• Nonke Plants        

• Stellenbosch Sandblasting & Signage