370 Million Years

The work started as a response to differences in forestry work on the estate evident in two contrasting sites. One being the magnificent avenue of trees leading from the front of the grand 17th century house with carefully selected and tended trees, the other a disused railway that ran through the estate at the bottom of a steep bank south of the house and studios. The trees there were untended, mainly self seeded and bolted hedges and were generally left where they had fallen. 

 

I thought about the difference in the care and attention given to the trees, and made links to wider ecological and humanitarian issues. These included reflections on social economics; those at positioned at the top have a higher monetary, cultural and aesthetic value than those at the bottom. And fears about the demise of our natural environment particularly difficulties in understanding unseen consequences of actions. This was very poignant as the work was made the same time as COP26 was taking place. 

 

I responded by carrying fallen and broken trees I found next to the old railway, up the steep bank, to the studios, where I rebuilt them, not as they were, but as simulations that had a robotic feel, indicating a possible future of the species. The title 370 Million Years, refers to the estimated time trees have lived on planet earth, and draws our attention the magnificent wonder of trees and  also their precarious future.

 

The installation included 5 large sculptures made from fallen and broken trees, put back together, or ‘repaired' in the studio using recycled building and farming materials found on the estate. Materials included wire and wood fencing, steel pipes, concrete block and floor boards. They were presented on plinths, again made from recycled materials. I used methods inspired by farming and building practices seen on the estate such as stretching and fixing wire, wedging and weighing down. The installation also included photographs taped to the wall, the images showed sites that inspired ideas, including a felled oak tree that had rolled down the steep bank to the disused railway. The parts of the tree had been left where it had landed. Also included were four paintings on paper made spraying black paint through found building materials such as clay brick broken and fixed to the paper. Prose I’d written on recycled paper, to help form and think about ideas were also taped on the wall for visitors to read.