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Installation : Poet-Tree at Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea (2023)

Recycled materials including soft and hard wood and cardboard, brown twine, inkjet colour print, PVA glue.

In collaboration with Connor Allen – Children’s Laureate of Wales 2021-23 – in association with Literature Wales.

In response to poetry workshops led by Connor Allen with local schools in the Swansea area, Poet-Tree  was designed as an interactive artwork, where children were invited to write poems and pledges about their future – reflecting on the world they live in now, and the changes their generation would make to live in the world as they would like it to be.  It had to include 21st Century prompts for young people to respond to including social media, mental health, technology and the environment, as well as hold space for each person to share and celebrate their own aspirations for the future.

The final Poet-Tree is made up of 8 half-tree silhouettes collaged with printed enlargements and reproductions of original artwork. The tree silhouettes have then been stapled on to frames with brown twine woven together to create netting to hang paper leaves from for the final artwork.

The original artwork include social media symbols; anatomical drawings of the eye, body and skeleton; landmarks of Wales; the national flag; Planet Earth; butterflies; graduates throwing their caps in to the air; trophies; currency symbols; letters of the alphabet as well as pen and ink drawings done by the artist.

Assembled, the final tree stands at about 2 metres high and 2 metres wide.