Rooted in the Catskill Mountains, “Monologue” interweaves photography, collected community reflections, and personal interventions to explore the intimate, transformative dialogue between humans and trees. In the Catskill Mountains, forests and trees are both the very reality and metaphors for the physical, philosophical, political, social, and moral energies. I wanted to converse with the trees, also with the people - my neighbors, long-term residents, farmers, and travelers — to understand their thoughts and imaginations about the trees in this region. I started to collect their thoughts and memories through conversation and the “Thoughts-Collecting Boxes” placed in public venues such as local libraries and community spaces. “Monologue” evolved into a platform on which photographs, collected texts, and my own act of interventions intertwine. It blurs the boundary between the documentation of the past and a projection of the future. The simultaneous presence of reality and fiction in these works created dialogues that examine the narratives and perspectives, and the “given” and the “created”.