Into the womb takes you into a sacred Cider Gum. This tree is a Tap Tree and a funerary tree.
By inverting the journey, the whole tree becomes embodied into itself. As if being born again or at the end of life buried within the tree. At the same time, this also covers and keeps the internal space sacred.
Tap trees were a celebration of life. The cider was tapped into a clay vessel and then fermented. The liqueur was then shared in a festival for the First Nations people groups of Trouwerner/Loetrouwitter. These two names are the North East and South East language Nation’s names for Tasmania for whom this tree is considered a living ancestor.
Funery Trees were burned to create a hollow into which the guardian of the tree would be interred on death. Thus a life cycle was established. To go into the womb of the tree on death would mean you were physically and metaphysically becoming one with the tree.
Cultural and Historical Importance
As with most Australian First Nations archeology, there is nothing to see here except the results of the activity of the Lairmarennier people who created hollows. These were burnt pre-1830. These trees are the footprints in the sands of time for these people. The Lairmarennier were the one Nation of people who did not survive the colonizing effort to exterminate the aboriginal inhabitants of Trouwerner/Loetrouwitter. The trees themselves are in Lore the living ancestors themselves.
Two factors can assure us that these are the artifacts of this long-lost people. These deliberate burnings are all on the south side of the trees. This enabled slow burns to gain the hollow and protected the productive side of the tree. The North Face gets the most sun; the side from which the cider is tapped. Secondly, this is an alpine region and it has not been burnt by wildfire. The area around the tree was fire-managed using cool burning to promote wallaby feeding/hunting grounds. Fire was the tool of agriculture for the people groups of Tasmania.
Composite image from 8 original images in the series.
Rules for the series: Walk toward the tree on the Funerary side until inside the trunk. Photographs were taken at regular intervals.
Technical: Camera – Hasselblad Film 80mm lens. Manual setting: HP5 film ISO800 Developed then scanned – post work digital.
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For more on these sacred trees go to my Cidergum project page here.
Available for Purchase
As this is a Photographic work, they are available as non-limited edition signed prints.
Series of 3 separated 17″ wide prints Approx 68″ long (3 images) $2400 set
Series printed on A2 paper in one combined image $550
Plus freight. Framing is the responsibility of the purchaser.
Larger sizes are available on negotiation with the artist. Smaller images are not available for this work.
All Photographs are Giclee printed on Archival Acid-free papers and archival pigment inks. As with all works on paper, do not hang in direct sunlight.