Sun Egg No.4 (2022)
Public installation at Eco Agroforestry Center in Linnarhult, Gothenburg, as part of a residency funded by Pronto, Göteborgs Stad. A woven space from living willow that was co-crafted with the local community. A place among the trees that invites interaction, fascination and curiosity, as a way of helping us to reorientate our thinking to one of co-existence and collaboration. Developed from the project ‘When I Am Among the Trees’ (2020).
The making of…
The intended purpose of the design is not only about the physical form of the object, but about the types of cultivated and unexpected interactions that take place because of it. Therefore the weaving and building of my installations are a key part of any project. This allows for people to meet with willow for the first, or thousandth time and invites them to have a go at working with the repetitive rhythm and flexible nature of this versatile material. Creating forms that invite intrigue, curiosity, questioning and become a marker of time and a keeper of stories.
“It’s alive!”
With the help of the community at Eco Agroforesty Center, I was able to plant live willow on site, which I wove onto directly, a couple of months later, once it had had a chance to root. This project is all about unexpected experiences and therefore the continuation and unpredictable nature of this living material will continue to be a surprise. To see how the willow grows and becomes its own entity that outgrows the use for humans and becomes a space for non-human beings…
“Social life is one long correspondence. More precisely, it is a tangled mesh of correspondences, all going on concurrently, which weave into and around one another”.
~ Tim Ingold
The view from within
To be inside a woven structure, hints at an almost architectural way of thinking – an experience rather than just seeing.
Could the simplicity of inviting adults to take time to be more childlike, playful and curious, be a way of helping invoke new ways of thinking? An interaction and experience that will encourage a shift in thinking towards one that has care, co-existence and collaboration at its centre.
A special thanks to Eco Agroforestry Center, Helena Hansson and Göteborgs Stad.