Ashen Tree, Pray Buy These Bugs of Me

Design Statement

The ash tree or “Tree of Life” is thought to hold the key to universal knowledge and understanding through its winged seeds.

This piece uses everyday objects – nails, spools and bottle caps – to create a folk-art inspired totem of protection in the tradition of African Nkisi Nkondi (spirit-invested objects that hunt down and punish wrongdoers). In folk medicine, sticking a pin into an ash tree is said to cure warts. It was common to see ash trees thickly studded with pins for this reason.

The spire, which represents the ash tree and functions as a spiritual object, is emerald green, like the emerald ash borer that has invaded it. The painted design evokes the pattern of damage caused by EAB larva. The nails penetrating the spire represent EABs boring into the tree. Hammering the nails into the piece animates the force of the spirit within to hunt down wrongdoers – in this case, the emerald ash borers themselves, who destroy our community’s beautiful ash trees.

Materials: Acrylic paint with found objects & magical ingredients

Dimensions: 5″ x 5″ x 47″

Map/Spire Number: 37

Location: Woolsey Park

Address: 221 Washington Crossing Pennington Road, Pennington