the five trees at herbert and new canterbury, dulwich hill
Friday, May 29, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
found a special tree friend
It was really nice to have a litle chat with you and I am pleased to know that has someone in the world that sees that trees are connected and have a talk "downstairs"; I was wondering about narnia the movie if I am not confuse the whole movie talks about this wonderland how we were before everything, trees talked between themselves and they even walked ... I think thats pretty goood and I think I believe !!!
www.rookwoodcemetery.com.au
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Development vs Trees
There is a battle between ideas, attitudes and expectations. There is a serious shame factor linked to neo-colonial politics. Like the way colonialists like to 'tame' an unruly or rugged environment, how they want to build over history and ignore the past histories, deny the uncomfortable histories and rewrite a new one that serves their own interests.
We see parallels between history and the roots of old trees like the ficus hillii We see parallels between the private schools which wishes to tame and mold young boys into respectable young men, and the society which has murdered, enslaved and still tries to control the Aboriginal peoples of this land.
"Cut your hair", is what the conservatives say to activists sometimes, and this relates to personal grooming, tree pruning and tree lopping. There is the issue of white washing history, getting rid of the old, denying it and trying to make people forget it.
There is also the issue of short term progress and economic gain/profit which is part of capitalism which is the system that dominates the world. The same system that has arguably given us dangerous climate change caused by global warming. While the school argues that they will plant more trees, can we really replace trees that have lived so long, have so much character, give so much shade and pleasure?
Developers have these master plans that you can't even see.... Jacqueline was speaking about this from her experience in the campaign to save the trees that were removed from the Domain. They talk about phase one and phase two but when you ask them about phase two they can't tell you. They want to get phase one out of the way because it paves the way for their more elaborate plans.
There is also this English, Victorian kind of idea that everything should be pretty and nice and tamed and 'civilised'. They tried to turn India into an English colony and thought that the uncivilised Indians were lower than them and had to be re-modelled or molded into better people. They did that in Australia too and it's interesting that 150 years ago when they started planting these fig trees everywhere they thought they were 'beautifying' the cities and making them more 'English' or whatever but now they look too unruly and make too much mess!
There's this idea of the eye-sore or the dirty mess. Maybe there is a similar thing with graffiti and councils wanting clean blank walls? There is the issue in that case of the walls being a living breathing history with words and conversations and art. The trees have seen so much, they witness so much change and are resolute in their keeping watch over everything. The trees roots will accommodate structures, branches will grow around power lines too. The trees have knowledge, wisdom and value too. And we like them and want them to stay.
We see parallels between history and the roots of old trees like the ficus hillii We see parallels between the private schools which wishes to tame and mold young boys into respectable young men, and the society which has murdered, enslaved and still tries to control the Aboriginal peoples of this land.
"Cut your hair", is what the conservatives say to activists sometimes, and this relates to personal grooming, tree pruning and tree lopping. There is the issue of white washing history, getting rid of the old, denying it and trying to make people forget it.
There is also the issue of short term progress and economic gain/profit which is part of capitalism which is the system that dominates the world. The same system that has arguably given us dangerous climate change caused by global warming. While the school argues that they will plant more trees, can we really replace trees that have lived so long, have so much character, give so much shade and pleasure?
Developers have these master plans that you can't even see.... Jacqueline was speaking about this from her experience in the campaign to save the trees that were removed from the Domain. They talk about phase one and phase two but when you ask them about phase two they can't tell you. They want to get phase one out of the way because it paves the way for their more elaborate plans.
There is also this English, Victorian kind of idea that everything should be pretty and nice and tamed and 'civilised'. They tried to turn India into an English colony and thought that the uncivilised Indians were lower than them and had to be re-modelled or molded into better people. They did that in Australia too and it's interesting that 150 years ago when they started planting these fig trees everywhere they thought they were 'beautifying' the cities and making them more 'English' or whatever but now they look too unruly and make too much mess!
There's this idea of the eye-sore or the dirty mess. Maybe there is a similar thing with graffiti and councils wanting clean blank walls? There is the issue in that case of the walls being a living breathing history with words and conversations and art. The trees have seen so much, they witness so much change and are resolute in their keeping watch over everything. The trees roots will accommodate structures, branches will grow around power lines too. The trees have knowledge, wisdom and value too. And we like them and want them to stay.
Ficus Hillii - Let Them Live to Nourish the Neighbourhood!
The 2203 Collective will have a show at Chrissie Cotter Gallery in Camperdown 2050 opening Wednesday 3rd of June 2009. Called 'Ficus Hillii: Let them live to nourish the neighbourhood', we are interested in the plight of the trees, especially fig trees under threat in our local area.
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