Originally my plan for my piece ‘Winter Blues’ was to use branches from ‘real’ Christmas pine or needle trees that are discarded along pavements in January – an act I find disturbing. This year I have been working with discarded non-human debris. In a recent performance in a domestic space, I introduced weeds to houseplants, planting them around the space and in audience member’s palms.
The museum collection is next to the gallery, meaning organic material has to be quarantined or contained, so that bugs, woodworm, etc can’t contaminate the collection. Due to the timeframe of collecting the real trees this would be tricky.
I understand and respect this policy, but it did get me thinking about other examples of when ‘nature’ is seen as a threat, to be contained or cleaned away. On the flip-side I was thinking how we reproduce it in great detail, are in awe of it, and want it in our homes at a time of hibernation and reflection. Amongst the wide-world understanding of ecological crisis, and the well-being movement houseplants have been re-welcomed into our homes.
I’m now playing with the tension of our connection and disconnection with nature, with the need to put nature and on a pedestal, and in the next breath trample it down. Ironically these metaphors will be made with artificial nature; branches dismembered from a second hand artificial tree.
Opinions still seem to divided over fake Christmas tree’s v’s real tree’s. Artificial trees can be used for many years but there is the carbon emissions produced when they are made, transported and eventually dumped in landfill to consider. Potted trees can be reused, but don’t do well next to heat sources, and tend not to live that long if they remain in a pot.
Cut real trees are collected by local councils, and end up in a landfill (creating carbon emissions as they decompose) or are shredded and used in parks. It all seems to depend on how long you keep that artificial tree and how it was produced in the first place.
