• We thank you for the gift to decide the fate of man from birth | Ann Shelton
  • We thank you for the gift to decide the fate of man from birth | Ann Shelton

Ann Shelton

We thank you for the gift to decide the fate of man from birth | Ann Shelton

$10,500.00

Ann Shelton

We thank you for the gift to decide the fate of man from birth (Apple), (2022 - Ongoing)


'i am an old phenomenon' 

Systems of belief concerning the medicinal, magical and spiritual uses of plant materials were well established in the lives of European forest, nomadic and ancient peoples. However, these beliefs were forcibly supplanted as pagan practices were displaced across Europe and other continents in the wake of Christianity and the rise of capitalism. The consequences of the suppression and attempted erasure of this plant-based belief system continue to be profound. Knowledge, often held by women, of the healing and spiritual effects of plants has been replaced by a significantly more limited emphasis on their predominantly aesthetic qualities. This separation informs our contemporary relationship to plants as being primarily one of commodification.

The images in 'i am an old phenomenon' are part of the re-assemblage of fragments of this old knowledge and, in their ontology, invoke the persecution of wise women, witches, and wortcunners who kept this knowledge safe but whose understanding of plants and their connection with reproduction, in particular, represented a threat to the new order. All the plant sculptures photographed are constructed by the artist who has always been interested in the history of floral art and its expansive gendered resonances having worked with plants since childhood.

Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Bamboo 

Artwork: 44 1/8 x 33 1/8 in (112 x 84 cm) 

Framed: 45 5/8 x 34 5/8 x 2 1/4 in (116 x 88 x 5 cm)

Edition of 6 plus 2 AP

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DESCRIPTION/COMMENTARY

In this work, the apple is cut to expose the pentagram at its core, as it is for making a love spell. The ironic title refers to the apple and its symbolic reconfiguration by Christianity as a symbol of “original sin” and evil. Wolf Storl expands on this transformation in The Untold History of Healing...
“The Celts, who called the world of the blessed Avalon (‘The Apple Country’), also knew the apples of eternal life. Apples and hazelnuts were cherished as food for the dead, and the spirit of the winter solstice, Santa Claus, brought apples and nuts as gifts of life.” […] “For the missionaries of the new faith, it must have been very difficult to turn the apple into a symbol of sin and death. Eve gave poor Adam this fruit to eat and so plunged them into misery. ‘Malum e malo’ (the evil came through an apple), said the evangelizers. For the medieval monks, the apple was the power of sensual love and seduction, as well as female breasts.”