This is not a Branch

The title of the work is a paraphrase of René Magritte's famous work. In today's world, the irony embedded in it is wrapped up in a new way. How can we tell one from the other, such as natural from natural, if they look the same or perform the same functions?
I was inspired to create branches by the news of the development of mechanical trees that can capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. These cyborgs are able to do the job much more efficiently than their natural counterparts. Soon there will be an entire forest of mechanical plants in Arizona.
The mechanical trunks are tall columns, 1.5 metres in diameter, which are made up of discs, just like the stem of the mechanical-digital branch in this work. It is capable of twisting and taking a variety of forms, from entirely natural to more angular, industrial, mechanistic ones. Where does the fine line between our recognition of a living organism and an artificial one pass, does it exist and will it be important to us in the future?

The palettes are taken from Japanese prints celebrating the beauty of nature.
Plus there is a vaporwave palette that reminds me of the game Metal Mutant, the aesthetics of which I was fascinated with as a child.

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September, 2022
Julia V & YulikolaY