About the work

The tied sapling suggests a careful intention, a small act of intervention in an otherwise unscripted landscape. It is not a gesture of defiance, but of gentle guidance, as if someone believes this one tree needs a little extra help to grow straight. This is a subtle violence, perhaps, to impose a desired form onto a living thing, yet it also carries the weight of a hopeful future. We expect certain outcomes from certain inputs, like the bus arriving at the same stop each day, and this small knot is a similar kind of faith in predictability, even for a tree. There is a quiet tragedy in this, too, in the way we extend our own anxieties about order and direction onto the natural world.