Bernadette BOSCACCI

Trees are potent metaphors for life, growth, reproduction, endurance, death and regeneration.

In art, representations of trees recur across history, not only as symbols of life and death (inevitable parts of the cycle of nature) but they also indicate a multitude of scenarios including chaos, serenity, domesticity and wilderness. Tree forms, materials and their remains are universally used in cultural practices and rituals, and their structures inform numerous philosophical and knowledge systems.

Informed by a belief that trees are fellow sentient beings that play an invaluable and enduring role in the natural and our built environments, as well as in our shared stories as humans, I reference sacred, mythological, divinatory and mortuary practices in my work.

In this body of work I’ve been exploring my ancestral and current connections with certain trees, types of wood and the ecosystems in which they grow. The artworks have evolved from a decade-long (2003 – present) investigation into Eucalyptus platyphylla (Poplar Gum) woodlands that were once widespread in the Townsville dry tropics. My exploration of these now threatened habitats and the species they sustain, has branched out to include tree species from other regions and continents, i.e. trees from temperate forests and tropical rainforests, including those frequented by my ancestors in Australia, Europe and the British Isles. Some of these tree species were introduced into our region during colonial times.

I am in awe of trees’ beauty, majesty, resilience, benevolence and regenerative abilities. Simultaneously, I’m afraid for their survival, and continually disturbed by the senseless destruction of trees and their ecosystems by the human race, in the seemingly endless pursuit of land and the exploitation of its natural resources. Sadly, trees’ vulnerability on earth is ever increasing and paralleled only by regressive human beliefs and greedy practices, which will inevitably be the downfall of us all.