Cloutie Tree – Jennie Meadows MA Photography

AGM62 Riitta Päiväläinen 16 November 2020

Riitta Päiväläinen is a Finnish photographer who, according to her website:

‘Is known for her temporary site-specific installations in nature, consisting of second-hand clothing and flea market fabrics. Her main interest has been “the unwritten history” – the history that you cannot find in library books, official files or archives, but can be felt in the rip of a coat or in the arm worn thin on an armchair.’

I was introduced to Päiväläinen’s photographic work during a 1-1 tutorial with our tutor, Åsa. When I looked at Päiväläinen’s images, I was quite struck by their haunting nature. As I wrote previously, there is a very eerie aspect to her work involving trees and clothing props. I get a similar reaction when I look at my images of hawthorns.

These particular images are visually similar to the ones in which I’ve focused on the three compositional elements:

Sky
Tree
Ground

Päiväläinen’s method is described as follows:

‘She creates site-specific sculptures utilizing second-hand clothing from flea markets and thrift shops as found objects, and then records the fleeting sculptures with suburb color photographs. Her work is similar in emotion content to that of the British sculpture Andy Goldsworthy. In contrast to Goldsworthy’s utilisation of the found natural materials of stone, rock and sticks, Paivalainen introduces a man-made element that speaks both directly and indirectly to the presence of humanity.’

(Stockdale, 2020)

For Päiväläinen:

‘The used clothes are symbols and evidence of the past, unknown people and their stories, memories and dreams. These symbols are installed in the natural landscape, in which there is no other presence of mankind, creating an abstract interplay and dialog between mankind and nature. The clothing is arranged either in familiar shapes or abstract patterns within the landscape, although she will sometime extract these sculptures out of this natural context.’

(Stockdale, 2020)

Päiväläinen’s trees also reminds me of the trees near to Clootie/Cloutie wells:

The Clootie Well is a rather weird remnant of an ancient tradition once commonly found in Scotland and Ireland, of holy wells to which pilgrims would come and make offerings, usually in the hope of having an illness cured. The tradition dates far back into pre-Christian times, to the practice of leaving votive offerings to the local spirits or gods in wells and springs. With the arrival of Christianity, the practice was simply adopted to the new circumstances.’

(info@undiscoveredscotland.co.uk, 2020)

When I looked at Päiväläinen’s work in more detail, two things came to mind in relation to my project. Firstly, my particular methodology of photography doesn’t involve physically adding to or changing my subject matter. For me, the tree itself is enough.

Secondly, the mood of the images plus the reactions and emotions they evoke are an exceptionally important element.

References:

info@undiscoveredscotland.co.uk, U., 2020. The Clootie Well Feature Page On Undiscovered Scotland. [online] Undiscoveredscotland.co.uk. Available at: <https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/munlochy/clootiewell/index.html> [Accessed 16 November 2020].

Riittapaivalainen.com. 2020. Riitta Päiväläinen. [online] Available at: <http://riittapaivalainen.com/htdocs/> [Accessed 5 November 2020].

Stockdale, V. 2020. Riitta Paivalainen – Imaginary Meetings. [online] PhotoBook Journal. Available at: <https://photobookjournal.com/2009/12/31/riitta-paivalainen-imaginary-meetings/> [Accessed 5 November 2020].

AGM62 Bushy Park Hawthorns 12 November 2020

When reflecting on both my subject matter and images so far, I realised that advancement in regards to the technical aspect had been neglected. This revelation came to me when looking at a cloudy sky on 9 November 2020. The sun was trying to break through a bank of clouds and I noticed a ‘sun dog’. Also known as a parhelion, this visual phenomenon is a bright spot in the sky appearing at the side of the sun. Similar to a rainbow, it is formed by refraction of sunlight through ice crystals high in the atmosphere. This was made more defined when looking through my polarised sunglasses. Additionally, the sun looked a like a full moon when looking through these lenses.

This prompted me to dig out my polarising filter and set myself the task of using this on my next Bushy Park visit. On the morning of 12 November, the sky was a mix on sunshine and clouds, so it was the perfect opportunity to try something different. I also wanted to revisit the line of hawthorns I looked at on the 10 November. These trees had sparked a new line of enquiry and I wanted to investigate them further.

Unfortunately, the light was quite harsh and the park was very busy with people taking their daily exercise, but it was good to try something new. In addition to the polarising filter, I underexposed the majority of these shots so that it would enable them to be edited and not ‘blown out’ in this type of light conditions.

What I did notice that a glove had been placed on one of the hawthorns.

This reminded me of the tradition of the tying of pieces of cloth to trees, including hawthorns as a healing ritual (Clootie/Cloutie Tree). This is one aspect of hawthorn mythology I need to look into closer.

I continued along the line of trees until I came to the last one. What I did find difficult was seeing the viewing screen on the camera. In order to make the tree appear larger than it is, I have to hold the camera quite low down. Also, there is quite a strong reflection from the sunlight.

The Black & White conversion.

The image on the left is the smartphone image I took on 10 November which can now be compared with the shot above (taken with the digital camera using the polarising filter).

After taking the hawthorn shots, I turned my attention to the dramatic sky.

Very dramatic.

The ‘before’ and ‘after’.

After I took the last photos, I noticed one of the many volunteers who maintain the Woodland Gardens in Bushy Park. He was clearing out a water channel that had become blocked. I realised that it was coming from the direction of the ditch that the hawthorns were planted along. When I asked him where the water was coming from, he said there was a spring that flows into the gardens. Would this spring be connected to the line of hawthorns in any way?

While chatting, he also mentioned a book called Bushy Park: Royals, Rangers and Rogues by Kathy White. Apparently, White is/was a local who wrote this book in 1997 about the history of the park. Hopefully, it will give me further insight into the place, especially the history before it became enclosed in the 17th century. I searched for and ordered this book on my return home.

References

Atlas Obscura. 2020. Clootie Wells: Where The Trees Are Weighed Down In Rotting Rags. [online] Available at: <https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/clootie-wells-where-the-trees-are-weighed-down-in-rotting-rags> [Accessed 15 November 2020].