Transmission Spores Magz Hall 2017
Mixed Media
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil was an enormous ash tree that harboured all the life in the universe a signifier of its power and resilience. For the last ten years an Ash tree has propagated every available spot in the artists garden like a virile weed, she likens its resilience to radio which has already outlived video and the ipod. The artist believes her personal experience of the Ash tree highlights that it may not completely disappear as first feared by experts and this view is reflected in reports concerning the deadly fungus.
This work takes poetry made during a poetry workshop on Ash die back, turning scientific descriptions of how the disease spreads, into a spore like radio composition reflecting her interactions with ash, and transmitted from the trunk of an infected tree for broadcast on FM into the gallery.
“Ecologists know that the natural world is resilient. Between 1% and 2% of ash trees in Denmark are showing signs of immunity from the disease.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/oct/30/ash-tree-crisis-dieback-disease
“British ash trees seem to have better resistance against a deadly fungus which is devastating trees across Europe, according to research which has decoded the DNA of the species for the first time.”
Part of the touring Ash Archive Exhibition
http://www.theashproject.org.uk/the-ash-archive/
‘The Ash Archive’ examines the human relationship with the ash tree and woodlands. Reflecting on the uncertain future of the ash tree, the exhibition brings together works by artists, designers and local makers which explore our dynamic and complex relationship with the life and death of the natural world. ‘The Ash Archive’ includes works by Ackroyd & Harvey, Colin Booth, French & Mottershead, Magz Hall, Max Lamb, David Nash, Autumn Richardson & Richard Skelton and Sheaf + Barley and a collection of objects made from ash wood including some objects from Rob Penn’s book “The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees.”
The Ash Archive is a collaboration between the University of Kent and The Ash Project. The Ash Project is an urgent cultural response to this devastating loss of one of our most important species of tree.
The Ash Project is grateful to galleries across Kent for hosting The Ash Archive tours in 2018, including Studio 3 Gallery at the University of Kent, Limbo in Margate in May, Halpern Gallery in Chatham in July, UCA Brewery Tap in Folkestone as part of the Salt Festival, in September and Kaleidoscope Gallery in Sevenoaks, in October.
https://www.theashproject.org.uk/the-ash-archive-2/
Magz Hall 
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