Trees, particularly oaks, fascinate me in almost all facets – from the bark to the heartwood, from the root to the crown. Now, more than ever, due to their ubiquitous presence within climate change discourse, trees are often at the centre of global and local concerns. The cultural history of oaks within England, for example, is intensely knotted with interwoven and complex ideas that range from the spiritual, mythological, scientific, poetic, political and social. They are used anthropologically to characterise and define the nation as strong and enduring. Their symbolism is used to give credence and legitimacy to environmental campaigns and political parties. Their material forms are used to preserve long-standing human oral and written histories through the conservation of ancient, historic, or ‘heritage’ trees.
In short, trees are deeply embedded in the everyday lives of people in a variety of conscious and unconscious ways, so much so that many of us may have even become blind to them. This simultaneous in/visible status of trees in the minds of the human is what draws me to them most. Recent studies that seek to uncover the intelligence of trees and their ability to perceive their surroundings, to respond to danger, or to make decisions, all shed new light on aspects of the plant world that have previously been hidden from view, mostly due to Western historical biases that have shoved trees and the wider plant world into the domain of inanimacy, and by extension into the margins of otherness.
Although I am not a scientist and I therefore cannot interact with trees in ways that illuminate their previously unknown biological functions, much of our modern lives are filtered through the lens of images, or 'the representational', which in turn informs the ways in which we see and understand ideas. By engaging with trees on both a material and conceptual level, my work is thought of as a series of invitations for the trees to become part of the stories that are told about them, and to take part in their representation through ways in which they have been historically excluded.