El lápiz

This book begins with a wonderful idea. Someone sharpens a pencil and the cut wood shavings, as they fall, become branches and leaves, which then transform into a forest where countless beings live in harmony. Birds take off splendidly when the wind blows…

If the book ended here, it would have been a beautiful fantasy, a miracle achieved by a small pencil. However, this wordless album takes us one step further. We see how the birds flee in disarray from the forest that is being cut down. A truck transports the logs to a huge factory. What scary thing will happen in this factory? The machines inside produce pencils, like the one a girl holds in front of a canvas on which she has drawn a forest.

Korean illustrator Hyeeun Kim reflects in this silent album on the environmental impact of our actions, even the most insignificant ones: sharpening a pencil or cutting down a tree is not the same as making a pencil or planting a tree. The question is: how to achieve balance in this vicious circle?