Art is Alive in ‘The Overstory’
Activists each bring their own strengths to the cause of saving the forest.
Nicholas Hoel’s contribution is art. He’s inspired in childhood by a unique collection of photos — the culmination of a long family tradition — in which “three-quarters of a century dances by in a five-second flip.”
Much later he joins a group dedicated to calling attention to destruction of the forest and its inhabitants. He paints human bodies with the colors of wildlife, and they make a spectacle of themselves blocking a busy highway.
Anger and annoyance result, but the scene also inspires a primal reaction:
“It unnerves the motorists; they’ve seen this bacchanal before — animals scampering in crazy circles — holdover memory from the illustrated pages of the first books they ever rubbed their fingers across, back when all things were possible and real.”
