While researching the subject of hawthorns, I initially found reference to these trees in books that covered the subject in general. There were brief mentions in a selection of tomes that gave a taste of the back ground of this tree, but they were quite general. I then discovered an enlightening book by Bill Vaughn titled Hawthorn – The Tree That Has Nourished, Healed and Inspired Through The Ages. Published in 2015, it is a combination of political, religious and natural histories and Vaughn’s own relationship with the hawthorn. The author lives on a large plot of land in North America called Dark Acres that is dominated by the tree. Throughout the book, Vaughn intertwines his experiences on this land, his family history and how the tree has impacted humanity. The book is a wealth of inspiration and information and I will studying it in greater detail over the coming months.
The aspect which is most useful is that Vaughn does not just focus on the hawthorn in relation to Great Britain or the United States. The author looks at the influence of the tree on a global basis and how it interconnects places in the world through invisible and visible means.
The book is divided into twelve chapters that cover a particular aspect in each one. My aim is to extrapolate the berries of relevant information in each chapter then utlise these as starting points of further inquiry and photographic exploration.
Chapter 1: The World’s Busiest Treet
Chapter 2: Under the Hawthorn Tree
Chapter 3: The Celtic Forge
Chapter 4: The Hedge Layers
Chapter 5: The American Thorn
Chapter 6: The Return of the Native
Chapter 7: The Tree of Heroes
Chapter 8: The Medicine Tree
Chapter 9: A Tree for All Seasons
Chapter 10: Essence and Spinessence
Chapter 11: The Crown of Thorns
Chapter 12: The Warrior Queen
One of my critical and important observations of this book is that there are no photographs, apart from the cover.
There are a selection of illustrations by the author, two 19th Century engravings, two maps and photograph of an owl. This is not a criticism, but a pertinent observation. It echoes the words of David Campany in his contemplation of the use of images to identify plants and trees.
‘Being a medium of specifics means photography is not well suited to generalities. A photograph can record the uniqueness of an object but it cannot designate the general category to which it might belong. What makes it useful in compiling an inventory makes it quite useless in defining the group.’
(Campany, D. 2020 pp. 116)
Campany continues with his stance in putting forward the example of images found in books to be used for identifying plants. Campany purports that although photography can record a specimen, but not the species, as each individual specimen is a variation of that species. Campany states that botanical identification is better served by drawing than by photography as:
‘The skill of a botanical illustrator is to look at several specimens and then produce an average. The average does not exist in reality but it is useful to have it.’
(Campany, D, 2020 pp. 116)
This is highlighted by Vaughn’s own illustration of a hawthorn branch that covers all the seasonal appearances of blossom, leaves and berries.
How this relates to my current project is that I am recording individual hawthorns to highlight their variations, not providing a generalisation of a species. Each tree will have their particular characteristics recorded to show their differences.
References
Campany, D. (2020). On Photographs. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Thehawthorneffect.com. 2020. Hawthorn | Crataegus | Crataegus Succulenta | Bill Vaughn | Crown Of Thorns | Enclosures | World’s Busiest Tree. [online] Available at: <http://www.thehawthorneffect.com/> [Accessed 17 November 2020].
Vaughn, B. 2015. Hawthorn – The Tree That Has Nourished, Healed, And Inspired Through The Ages. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.
Jennie Meadows MA Photography 