On November 5th, nature photographer Lotfi Bouslah of Lolo Pics shared a photo he introduced with these words : " Alive the olive tree gives us its oil, dead, it gives us its sculpted beauty. " The benefits of the olive tree and its products are known throughout the world, and the wood of the olive tree is prized for its durability, its colour and the interesting configurations of the wood's grain. The olive tree, with its scientific name of Olea europea is a tree in the family of Oleaceae, and is found in the Mediterranean Basin, from Portugal to the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and the south of Asia and China, and also the Canary Islands and Reunion. The olive tree is cultivated in many places and considered naturalized in all the countries of the Mediterranean Coast, as well as in Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Java, the Island of Norfolk, California and Bermuda. Fossil finds indicate that the olive tree has its origins in the region of Italy and the Eastern Mediterranean Basin between 20 and 40 million years ago, and the cultivation of the olive tree goes back between 6000 and 5000 years in the Levant. The olive tree is not native to the Americas, it was the Spaniards who introduced it to the continent, where its cultivation prospered in Chili and Peru. The olive tree was introduced into California by Spanish missionaries. The first olive trees to be introduced into Japan, were brought there in 1908, to the island of Shodo. Worldwide, it is estimated there are now about 865 million olive trees.
The olive tree is a tree whose products have been considered sacred since Antiquity, its branches are a symbol of peace, and were offered to the gods as emblems of purification and blessing, and offered as crowns to the winners of games and wars. The olive tree is also considered a symbol of wisdom, of fertility and purity. The ancient Greeks used olive oil as part of their beauty treatment for the skin and hair. The olive tree is mentioned in Homer's Iliad, and the wood of the olive tree was used for the figurines of the most ancient primitive Greek cults. According to the father of ancient botany, Theophrastus, olive trees could live up to 200 years. The olive tree was sacred to the goddess Athena, and appears on money pieces. There are olive orchards in the Mediterranean region that are very old with trees estimated to have been around for 2000 years. The olive tree on the island of Brijuni, in Istre, Croatia, is 1600 years old, and still produces 30 kg of fruit each year. There is an olive tree on the west side of the city of Athens that is believed to be what remains of the site of Plato's Academy, so this tree is estimated to be 2400 years old. The wood of the olive tree is very hard, and because the olive tree is a slow growing tree, the wood is considered expensive. Its wood with its yellow or green to pale brown tint often has veins that are darker, and it is therefore a wood valued by wood artists and sculptors.
The photo of Lotfi Bouslah shows a dead olive tree that presents itself as s synthesis of all the qualities of the wood of the tree : durable, with a unique colour and texture. The striking quality of this photo is that it shows the dead olive tree with its heart exposed, everything of it is visible, its inner being vulnerable to the world and to time. Nature photographer Lotfi Bouslah speaks of how even dead, the olive tree gives us its sculpted beauty. It seems this olive tree with its exposed heart offers up its form transformed into a large animal, on its fatigued hind legs, the shorter front legs in a gesture of submission, but the neck long and strong, and the head forceful, like that of a rhinoceros that always won its battles, the eyes still alert, albeit it sad, and from this brave figure one can hear escape , from its massive and heavy head, with its open muzzle in the air, a big and ferocious sound, that regrets its death, the cruelty of its destiny and its solitude. The angle at which the photographer took the photo maximizes the impression the dead olive tree gives of being a conquered beast that is still proud, beyond death, its spirit is on the other side of sorrow, petrified in the mystery of time that claimed it. I think of the photographer who must have his heart broken by the cruel death of his friend Lounis. Suddenly, the photo of the dead olive tree takes on a personal quality, a tenderness and a hope of peace for the soul of his friend so brutally taken out of this world and its incomprehensible mysteries.
Trudi Ralston
The research on the olive tree and its significance in human history, courtesy of Wikipedia.
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