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A photographic exploration of the cultural significance and natural beauty of ancient yew trees (pictures
below)
Andy McGeeney
My intention is: to challenge our current understanding of the yew; to explore our deepest responses to them and celebrate their significance and
beauty.
Once Europe’s most sacred tree, the forgotten yew has lived on in dark churchyards and mature woods for centuries. Inspired by the yew tree’s capacity for renewal my work aims to regenerate a new appreciation of our island’s oldest living trees.
I am fascinated by the responses the yew tree evokes in myself and other
people.
There are yew trees in this country that have been alive for over 2,000 years and probably much longer. The yew was the inspiration for the Tree of Life in Northern and Western Europe as was the Palm in the Mediterranean region. Many yews are rooted on sacred sites that would have been a focus for Iron Age communities and a continued source of inspiration throughout the Christian
era.
The project is still evolving as I increasingly work on the essence stated in the title: the yew has strong, apparently paradoxical, associations with death and renewal; Millennial themes contrasting Iron Age ancestors with our future focused industrialised culture; and our own brief lives set against the extended time dimensions of wider ecosystems.
Britain is unique in having the largest number of ancient yews in the world: the exhibition explores the reasons behind this. It reveals the biological explanations for the yew trees incredible longevity over many centuries; why they are found in churchyards; and their mythical significance as the Tree of Life in NW
Europe.
The visual impact of the yew photographs is often a surprise to audiences. Beneath the dark foliage are beautifully coloured barks and flowing sculptural forms, expressed in living
wood.
There are approximately 30 images with accompanying panels of short text and extracts from poetry. Pieces of naturally sculpted old yew wood are also
displayed.
Andy McGeeney has been a wildlife photographer and writer for many years and has been working semi professionally for the past fifteen. His photographic work has been used in a wide range of books, magazines and advertisements. Jonathan Cape published A Complete Guide to British Dragonflies in 1986: the first and only photographic guide of its kind, using over 200 colour photographs taken by the author.
“As well as its evident beauty I am interested in the meaning of the yew tree: to our ancestors and what it means us today. The yew project has become an exploration of time, death, renewal, ecology, and a deeper personal connection to
Nature.”
His first public exhibition was at the invitation of the Nailsworth Arts Festival in Gloucestershire as part of their Millennial celebrations. The yew photographs have also been exhibited at: the Ancient Yews Conference in Cromwell Road London, organised by the Conservation Foundation, November 2000; the Alexander Gallery Epping, Essex for 3 months in Summer 2000; Hull City Museum 3 months 2001; and Swaffam Priors, Cambridge, over Easter 2001, Hereford, Soil, Soul & Society Conference Sept 2001. The current show is the culmination of a five year exploration of the yew tree.
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