Where once we stood on Scragged Oak Hill

We walked through an area of recently felled trees. Tall piles of broken branches punctuated the newly exposed landscape; it was as if their remains were trying to gather themselves together and stand once more.

Where once we stood on Scragged Oak Hill is a project using the remnants of felled trees to build ‘forest figures.’ These talismanic forms act as a symbolic embodiment of the trees that have now gone – an arboreal haunting.

The figures draw on European myth and historical folk practices where people dressed in costume meant to be embodiments of nature. They evoke entities like the Woodwose or the Green Man.

The construction of figures in the environment creates a presence in the woods, a witness to their surroundings. The project’s title refers to the location of the first figure — Scragged Oak Hill — where a grove of mature hemlock trees once stood and were subsequently felled. Forest figure #1 (Remains of Hemlock) is made from their branches.