The sun appears behind the branches of the tallest trees. Lift the head until feeling discomfort in the neck. The heat is felt all along the body

This painting, drawn in black Indian ink and sepia ink — both frequently used in botanical textbooks — evokes plant forms. These inks, applied to very wet canvases, spread and are absorbed by the support to create encroaching shapes with unpredictable contours that seem to escape all attempts at control. They evoke those organic construction systems inherent to nature that attract, cancel, and diffuse one another. This particular work brings to mind, as its title suggests, branches and roots that intertwine without merging. Indeed, Latifa Echakhch represents here rhizomes that form of their own accord, very close to the phenomenon of 'shyness' in botany, whereby certain plants maintain a small distance between one another called a 'shyness gap' of a few centimetres. This work belongs to a series of 20 paintings presented for the first time in its entirety at the Kunsthalle in Mainz. Exhibitions: 'Freiheit und Baum' 2019, KHZ Kunsthalle, Mainz, Germany; 'Genius Loci' — Villa de l'Ange Volant, Garches, 2021; 'Soudain dans la forêt profonde', kamel mennour.