I did not get the chance to attend this exhibition at the V&A, but luckily there is a book of the material with a useful essay by Martin Barnes. It looks at how photographers, consciously or unconsciously, use visual symbols to affect people’s emotional identification with nature and their environment, as well as considering their responses in terms or acts or changes of behaviour.
Trees are “an enduring subject for artists, often standing as visual emblems for nature as a whole … They can be read as symbols that define national and cultural identity” (Barnes, 2019:9). The latter part of this quote refers to the place of trees within ancient mythology through to the modern ecological movement.
The symbolism is also interesting in that the tree and woods can be used to represent beauty and tranquility, but also unease and danger. “We cannot help but anthropomorphise trees and use them to tell our own stories” (Barnes, 2019:12). Warburg’s The Guardian of the Wood (1908) sees a lone tree as a sentinel. Mildred Hatry used the strong silhouette of a tree to convey something evil in her image Wind Witch (c.1940).
Trees and woods have often been regarded as habitats for spirits and nymphs, and Swedenborg’s “correspondence principle”, whereby all natural things have a direct connection to spiritual qualities, is referenced by Barnes when looking at Frederick Evans’ Reflets dans l’eau, which is seen as a reflection of the divine (as well as an excellent compositional tool). Raking light through trees, generally in the early morning, can also convey something of a spiritual overseer, although when softer it can tend towards the romantic as in Atget’s image of the Parc de Sceaux at 7 o’clock in the morning from 1925.
Trees can also be used as to provide structure within the frame, with Lategan’s Florida (1980) being an extreme example that makes the point – White uses a similar device below although much more softly in the pictorial manner. They can also be used to partition the depth of the image, working almost as curtains, through which a view of something different can be glimpsed – for example contrasting an urban view through trees that represent nature. In a similar way looking onto an area of trees in the middle distance, for example through a window, can increase the sense of interior and melancholy (or the same effect could be achieved by looking through trees to a homely seen, isolating the viewer in the exterior this time).
National Trust use the oak leaf as their symbol.
Trees have been formally recognised as a valuable natural resource since 1217, when Henry III enacted the Charter of the Forest. This was re-enacted in 2017 in the form of the Charter for Trees, Woods and People.
Trees made an excellent early photographic subject, since they made the most of photography’s specific qualities by being relatively quick to shoot but difficult to draw. Early images, particularly those showing the same deciduous tree in winter and summer, were often used as aids for drawing or painting, allowing the artist to start with the skeleton and add the leaves. But in very early times (1850s) long exposure times meant that photographs of trees tended to be made in winter or of evergreens, since the leaves of deciduous trees moved too much. Barnes also points out that light (photos) is the lifeblood of both trees (photosynthesis) and photography.
Aberlado Morell uses an even earlier technique, the camera obscura, and has developed a tented camera that projects the image of trees onto grass, creating interesting textures in an image that is then rephotographed. I note that something similar could possibly be done on shingle?
In discussing the work of Jones, Barnes sees “decay in nature as a symbol for passing time” (Barnes, 2019:108), of course a key subject of photography – in fact it can be argued that any photograph has time as its subject in some way, and photography’s ability to aestheticise degeneration is one of its most important qualities – Stieglitz photographed poplars that were the same age as him, as if comparing progress. In one plate “the repetition of part of the scene across the diptych suggests the momentary passing of time” – in other words the frame seems to have shift as time or events have passed, which is an interesting idea that could be used elsewhere …
Trees can also be representative of new life, as in Clarence White’s image Morning 1905. Saplings in spring can also be representative of youth, for example in Cadby’s image April (1902) where he uses high-tone to emphasise the effect. Dead trees can signify transformation (as well as death) since they will become the hummus that will nurture the next generation. Perhaps images of trees when they were alive, but are now dead, can take on some of the same meaning/roles as images of people that have passed away (extending Barthes). Barnes uses Wynn Bullock’s 1969 image of Del Monte Forest as an example here, but mentions that his daughter sees the dead tree as a crowned king – the point being that all images are interpreted subjectively, with a single image often having multiple meanings which are then fixed by the viewer.
So while images of trees that have been cut down can be seen as violence against nature, this is contested. Coppicing is a recognised management technique and many feel an important tool in managing forests (once humans have started to interfere with nature, there can be an obligation to continue). However this is disputed by Wohlleben in The Hidden Life of Trees, who claims this is a relatively short-term (100 year) outlook, in comparison to the lifespan of trees in natural forests (https://wordpress.com/post/photo515050level3.wordpress.com/853)
In summary this was a wonderful subject for a photography exhibition/book, artfully handled by Martin Barnes. If I had any complaint it would only be that he occasionally over-strived into the unusual or strange to further complement his theme.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- Hatry, M. (c.1940) Wind Witch. At: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1472743/wind-witch-photograph-hatry-mildred-e/ (Accessed 29.8.2022)
- White, C. (1905) Morning. At: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/267729 (Accessed 29.8.2022)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Barnes, M. (2019) Into the Woods: Trees in Photography. London: Thames & Hudson
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