Betula Alba Pendula
Dawn Boon - MA Photography
Sustainable Strategies
The Trees (1974)
The trees are coming into leaf Like something almost being said; The recent buds relax and spread, Their greenness is a kind of grief. Is it that they are born again And we grow old? No, they die too. Their yearly trick of looking new Is written down in rings of grain. Yet still the unresting castles thresh In fullgrown thickness every May. Last year is dead, they seem to say, Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.
By Philip Larkin
Betula Alba Pendula - the Birch tree, white, weeping slightly
My photographs represent a visual exploration of the life cycle of the Silver Birch tree with its pliant gracefulness as it whispers and bends in the wind in the woodland. As it grows and falls it decomposes and gives nourishment to the woodland floor, sustaining new growth around it. I hope to have captured the evolving landscape of the birch trees and the hidden life of the woodland floor that it sustains, often going unseen as we pass through.
Historically these trees have been sacred, holding many symbolic, spiritual and metaphorical meanings and connections with growth, rebirth, death, renewal, protection and medicinal practices.
Created within a four mile radius of my home; exploring local landscapes is deeply important to my practice. These woods are a place I wander, to observe and explore this unique rich, changing ecosystem. I have been influenced by the early landscape images of John Blakemore and his subtle observations of light and Claire Hewitt’s Everything in the Forest is the Forest.
Betula Alba Pendula follows on from my previous projects centred in the landscapes of the fens. Shooting digitally and becoming preoccupied with the rich tapestry of colour, surveying the subtlety of light and colour falling through the trees. Seeking to be more mindful of employing a more sustainable practice whilst finding a kinship with nature.
These photographs are perhaps a metaphor for our own circle of life as Larkin’s poem eloquently discusses. Like us trees are not solitary beings, their roots are entwined and interwoven sharing nutrients and communication. Sustaining the life of the woodland and its inhabitants. As we too need that nurturing to grow and mature. Every act of kindness to nature moves us closer to living in harmony with it. Wandering the woodlands, looking for the less obvious, observing light. Things unseen, lost in time.
The practice of Shinrin-Yoku became a point of research. Being in nature is essential to our own wellbeing. By tending to these silent giants we foster a sustainable environment.
The images produced have been made into a digital book allowing the viewer to explore the work from any platform, reducing the need for printing.
