tsmcfadden art gallery
All images © 2010 tsmcfadden
They give us oxygen, shade, texture and brilliant color. They offer a place to sit beneath, to swing, to climb, to land upon, to dream. They ask for nothing. Tall and proud and awe-inspiring. In life their roots reach deep to hold them upright. They are ancient creatures that were here long before us and will be here long after.
Trees. I have loved trees since I’ve been a little boy. The give me solace, they inspire me and in my times of struggle I sit beneath them and am reminded of something much greater and more important. I envy their clear purpose. I admire their fortitude.
I found these stumps in piles near the roadsides, as if I had stumbled upon an elephant graveyard. Their trunks cut off and their roots torn from under. Cleared for new homes, for firewood - for the inevitable progress of man. Tossed in a pile to be buried or burned.
I felt sadness and awe. The intricacy, the complexity and the beauty of something that in its life is never fully seen and never sees the sky.
Only in death, when ripped from the ground is there clarity, understanding and sight.
So I took them and raised them up so they could be admired, so that they would not be forgotten, so that they could see the sky.
Resurrected. My Elephant Graveyard.
