Sonfist created each of these works to be as ephemeral and transient as a mist. They were left to pass away, their elements reclaimed by nature like a body decaying into earth. Each work is a reflection of the natural processes of birth, death, and rebirth.

As John Muir has said, “Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plans and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.”

These artworks no longer exist in their original state. Only their photographs survive. The secret languages of the forest and the city are exposed through these photographic essays, collected over time. Each photo landscape selects a fragile moment, which will disappear as quickly as it is photographed.

Circumference of
Beech and Oak Tree
1969
16 x 80 inches.
In the collection
of the
Museum of Modern Art

Nature’s Crosses
1969
30 x 34 inches

Book of Leaves and Rocks
1970
8 x 10 inches

Ancient Forest Within the Cracks of New York
1971
24 x 30 inches.

Tree Cradling Leaf
photograph
1979
36 x 48 in.

Double Yellow Moss
photograph
1975
11 x 14 in.

Nature’s Time Sidewalk
photograph
1977
11 x 14 in.

Leaf Cross
photograph
1971
24 x 36 in.

Mother Tree
photograph
1989
24 x 36 in.

Finds in Snow
photographic series
1977
11 x 28 in.