Title: To Propitiate.

Medium: Sculpture.

Materials: Found tree part, torn strips of sheeting, PVA glue, car spray paint.

Inspiration for this piece came from the Clootie trees, in ancient Britain there was a superstition that if a cloth (cloot) was wiped on a diseased or afflicted body part and tied to a tree then the tree would take on the suffering of its owner and his ailment would be cured. In To Propitiate the same “offering up” of cloths is subverted by being made upside down, this intervention results in an organic, plant like structure, although there are clear references to the abject in the cut off “limbs” of the tree, bandage pattern and repetition of knots, all alluding to a feminine history of washing, wiping, caring and even tearing up sheets for bandages.

Ruth Geldard

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