Dust Forest: Art & Science Talk

The Paper Arts Museum (PAM) hosts a science and art talk at theWeston Roof Pavilion, Royal Festival Hall on the occasion of Dust Forest, the solo exhibition by Emilia Telese at The Paper Museum, London.

Dust Forest showcases Telese's profound exploration of themes including belonging, transience, and the emotional aspects of soil through this large, immersive printmaking installation.

Featuring a large ‘forest’ paper installation made of engravings of Betula Pubescens (Icelandic birch), Telese employed pigment derived from Icelandic dust left beneath retreating glaciers. This unique process transforms ancient geological matter into delicate visual narratives, capturing the ephemeral nature of glaciers and their profound connection to the landscape. The resulting works possess a subtle texture and ethereal quality, evoking a sense of both fragility and deep time.

The exhibition explores the surprising link between deserts and forests in nature's chronology. Iceland today has the largest desert in Europe, with many areas larger than Denmark. They are a result of medieval Viking agricultural practices, when settlers cut and burned native birch forests that never fully recovered. Icelandic dust storms, of which there are more than 135 each year, can blow dust over 3,500 km, reaching the High Arctic and mainland Europe including the United Kingdom up to 30 days per year. Dust Forest tells the story of those glaciers, once covering nearly all of Iceland, beneath which lies a hidden rainforest, revealed only due to extreme melting in recent decades. This ancient forest resembled rainforests found today on the west coast of the United States, with massive tree trunks still found buried in the land.

The dust sample used in the exhibition was obtained in collaboration with Dr. Pavla Waldhauserova (Agricultural University of Iceland and Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague), from Dyngjusandur, the largest dust hot spot in Northeast Iceland, often called 'The Bodele of the North'. This area, a significant source of dust during storms, is at the northern tip of Vatnajökull Glacier and surrounded by the Askja stratovolcano. It is the same place where NASA astronauts were trained for t Apollo space missiona & the International Space Station. The Dyngjusandur dust, which is very fine, is of volcanic origin,reworked by glacial processes.

Dust Forest is part of Emilia Telese's ongoing research into the conceptual, environmental and emotional aspects of printmaking.

Talk: 6pm - 7pm

Q&A: 7pm - 7.30pm

Drinks: 7.30pm - 8pm
Please do join emilia and Pavla for drinks

Emilia Telese: Dust Forest
4 October - 15 November 2025
The Paper Museum
89 Wood Street, London, EN5 4BX
Open: Wedesday - Friday 10am - 4pm & Saturday/Sunday 10am - 5pm

Image: Emilia Telese, Suite for an Imaginary Forest: Prelude from Dust Forest (detail), 2025, monotype, drypoint, arctic desert dust, pigment and lapis lazuli on paper, 90 x 44cm