ENTRY DESCRIPTION
This tree was found while on my first trip to the north-west county of Cumbira, England, and is part of a work-in-progress titled 'Common Ground'. Common Ground aims to draw attention to feelings of displacement felt in a country that is experiencing an identity crisis. By using the metaphor of the oak tree, the national tree of England, I have begun a search for trees in unfamiliar ground that symbolically and literally root me to my home country. It is in this sense a discovery of a landscape that, by my nationality, I am supposed to know. In this sense they may represent a landscape of division, unseen within the physical land yet highly resonant during our current political climate. However the subject and focus of these oaks are not to represent a division, but instead to symbolically draw attention to our collective unity, and to highlight the strength found in common ground.

AUTHOR
I am an artist and researcher whose work broadly covers issues about land, identity, space and place. I am currently undergoing a PhD in photographic practice at the University of Brighton, researching theories on English national identity and place in relation to landscape and myth.

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