Bound (Croft)

Cotton wrapped, deceased oak tree

This artwork featured in Tell it to the Trees (2009). A Meadow Arts commission.

This monumental 46-foot deceased oak has been wrapped in thin strips of heavy duty cotton drill fabric in a lengthy process that has taken close to a month. With Bound (Croft), Phillipa Lawrence refers not only to the physical act of binding the trees in cloth but also to the closeness experienced while working closely with the tree and in the landscape.

For the artist, wrapping is a meditative act and amounts to ‘revealing through concealing’. Surprisingly, the form seems to be released and revealed through the temporary constraint of being bound in red fabric; our attention is drawn to the nature of this majestic tree as if for the first time. The choice of red fabric was instinctual. In this case – listening to the tree as much as telling.

Image: Philippa Lawrence, Bound, installation view, Tell it to the Trees, Croft Castle, 2009. Image courtesy of Meadow Arts. Photographer, Stefan Handy.

 

About the artist

Philippa Lawrence

Philippa Lawrence exhibited in Tell it to the Trees, Croft Castle, 2009, commissioned by Meadow Arts.

Image: Philippa Lawrence, Bound, installation view, Tell it to the Trees, Croft Castle, 2009. Image courtesy of Meadow Arts. Photographer, Stefan Handy.