What Happens at the Tree, Grows

Love blooms in unconventional spaces, defying the punctuation marks society tries to place around it. "What happens at the tree, grows" exists as both art object and ritual artifact—a mixed-media zine that explores queer love as an act of courage, sacred manifestation, and intentional becoming.

Through the symbolic language of dragons—creatures of transformation and power—and a meaningful tree where a proposal took place, this work charts a journey from fear to hope, from uncertainty to dreaming.

The zine weaves together personal artifacts (drawings, magazine clippings, a Taco Bell sauce packet reading "marry me") with protective elements like foil armor and dark backgrounds, reflecting how love must sometimes be both vulnerable and defended. Each element has been carefully selected and placed as an act of deliberate manifestation, transforming the creative process itself into a spiritual practice where creation becomes inseparable from invocation.

Using primary colors favored by my partner, the work explores how love shapes our identity—how we adopt and treasure what matters to our beloved.

The text manifested within includes words like "community," "family," "breakthrough," and "peaceful deaths"—these are not merely words but seeds planted in fertile soil, incantations rather than narratives. They speak to love as both daily practice and lifelong journey, serving as prayers and intentions that transform the fear of rejection into the courage to dream of a shared future.

With each artistic choice, a prayer is offered; with each completed page, a future is affirmed. What emerges is both art and spell—documenting not what is, but calling forth what can be.

This is no extraordinary phenomenon—just the resilient blessing of an everyday occurrence: a sacred container where love is continuously invited to expand beyond current boundaries.