EVER GREEN PURPLE AND WHITE

In the early 1900’s an arboretum was planted in Batheaston at the home of Linley and Emily Blathwayt. When suffragettes had been released from prison they were welcomed there to recuperate. They were also invited to plant a tree as a mark of their courage. Fourty six trees were planted (documented in photos by Colonel Blathwayt). They survived until the 1960’s when they were felled in order to make way for a housing estate.

Only one tree survived. It was a Monterey Pine and had been planted by Rose Lamartine Yates in 1909.

In 2020 I was staying in Batheaston and came across the story and managed to find the site of ‘the last tree’. I felt a deep connection and knew that I wanted to make work using the tree as a catalyst.

Initially I collaborated to harvest seeds and then grow them. Seedlings emerged on my kitchen window ledge. As they grew, I documented all the key moments in photography and video. They thrived and became hardy enough to live outside. I felt the legacy of Rose’s tree being renewed. I grew eight trees and began to think of them as living monuments and how they could rebirth a wealth of stories.

The tree guardian is an octogenarian retired midwife. How fitting that she should be the custodian of such a tree.

Through making art I am exploring the physicality of the tree (eg pine cones, needles, bark, sap) and also its metaphoric power. At over 100 feet high Rose’s tree is monumental. Unlike cold grey stone statues, this tree has a power that is regenerative.

To commemorate something is to KEEP IT ALIVE.

Whilst collaborating with Kew, we realised that the tree had been mis-named and is in fact, a Pinus Radiata.

To radiate is to emanate or extend outwards from or as if from a central point.

'The Last Tree' is one tree but with the power to extend its branches and radiate its legacy far into the future…

Campaigning, let alone militancy, was not really part of the lives of most British women in the late 1800's.
Through my research I have honed in on a number of outstanding things. I have been struck not just by the militancy that unfolded but by the intensely feminine nature of the campaign. It was so ‘of its time’ when women wore long dresses, did flower arranging, handcrafts and sewing. Yet these activities were employed as tools of ‘war’ and honed into emblems for a fight. I am fascinated to explore this realm that on the surface might appear benign and yet becomes so powerful.

I want to utilise all parts of this tree* to make art that connects with the historic and cultural references. I am learning that pine can be used in a multitude of ways from pine cones in photographic printing, pine needles for weaving, soot for ink, sap for glue and wood for paper and so on.

*I am working with the genus Pinus as a whole

I am indebted to Cynthia Hammond and colleague Dan Brown for their brilliant research - links below.

Book excerpt:
https://www.academia.edu/7696732/_book_excerpt_Architects_Angels_Activists_and_the_City_of_Bath_1765_1965_Engaging_with_Womens_Spatial_Interventions_in_Buildings_and_Landscape

Low-res catalogue in full:
https://www.academia.edu/128268041/Suffragettes_in_Bath_Activism_in_an_Edwardian_Arboretum

I would also like to thank the Single family and Air-Pot® for such quick and ready support:https://air-pot.com/garden/