30.12.20 Synthesis and the Wishing trees
Me tying a message to the Wishing tree at Purdown
Through the research I've been doing into synthesis in my practice and analysing the works of Marcus Coates and Steven Cohen, I have begun to realise that the Wishing trees actually combine all three strands of my practice.
They are obviously socially engaged but they also have significant performative aspects too. During the early days of the Wishing trees, every day I visited to one of the trees to 'tend' them, as a kind of ritual. I was ripping strips of cloth, writing labels, walking, tying, connecting, documenting. It felt very much like a ritual too, and the places where the trees were situated had significance too. Especially the hawthorns, in the wilder spaces. It seems that others felt that when they were active, as many people revisited one tree many times or all the trees. One person went to the Wishing tree on the Downs very early every morning for many months. Even now, since the trees have been unravelled, people still post photos of the Downs tree especially on social media, and some people are still adding messages and tokens.
Interestingly, it was not only me performing. My partner, Dave, accompanied me on almost all those daily walks and also participated in tying, photographing and videoing but also every person who brought something to add to one of the trees was performing in a way as well. It was like some largely unseen, unchoreographed community performance. It would have been amazing to have been able to track every movement and to put them all together.
There are also sculptural aspects to the Wishing trees. Through participation and performance, each person adding something to the trees was contributing to the development of an installation; it was like a sculpture by addition. Many of the additions were messages, but many others were objects, like amulets.
So, the Wishing trees successfully combined the three strands of my practice - social engagement, performance and sculpture. What can I do next that synthesises my practice in similar ways.
They are obviously socially engaged but they also have significant performative aspects too. During the early days of the Wishing trees, every day I visited to one of the trees to 'tend' them, as a kind of ritual. I was ripping strips of cloth, writing labels, walking, tying, connecting, documenting. It felt very much like a ritual too, and the places where the trees were situated had significance too. Especially the hawthorns, in the wilder spaces. It seems that others felt that when they were active, as many people revisited one tree many times or all the trees. One person went to the Wishing tree on the Downs very early every morning for many months. Even now, since the trees have been unravelled, people still post photos of the Downs tree especially on social media, and some people are still adding messages and tokens.
Interestingly, it was not only me performing. My partner, Dave, accompanied me on almost all those daily walks and also participated in tying, photographing and videoing but also every person who brought something to add to one of the trees was performing in a way as well. It was like some largely unseen, unchoreographed community performance. It would have been amazing to have been able to track every movement and to put them all together.
There are also sculptural aspects to the Wishing trees. Through participation and performance, each person adding something to the trees was contributing to the development of an installation; it was like a sculpture by addition. Many of the additions were messages, but many others were objects, like amulets.
So, the Wishing trees successfully combined the three strands of my practice - social engagement, performance and sculpture. What can I do next that synthesises my practice in similar ways.
Tying ribbons