Scar
2002
text from Oxford Dictionary of Current English :
scar
1 -n. 1 usu. permanent mark on the skin from a wound etc. 2 emotional damage from grief etc. 3 sign of damage. 4 mark left on a plant by the loss of a leaf etc.
Gemini's historical anatomical drawing of human lungs echoes the tangled, vein-like branches of the willow outside the gallery as viewed through the peep-hole into the camera obscura. The body’s inner workings reflect the tree; humans and Nature intertwine: carved (scarred) granite rocks, a willow weeping (anti-gravity), our environment scarred.
This site-specific vignette presents a camera obscura image of a willow tree with an early historical anatomical drawing of a lung, that mirrors the willow like a visual echo. Personal scarring is paired with environmental scarring as things are literally turned upside; the willow weeps, inverted through both the “dark room”, and the human eye, which initially forms images upside-down. The granite rocks at the base of the suspended print are carved with letters forming the word SCAR.
