Life Cycle

‘The tension and delicate balance between man’s use and interaction with nature, birth, death and regeneration are part of everyday life, precarious and at the mercy of external forces. In ‘Life Cycle’ the use of unmediated, natural everyday material, a material that we take for granted, attempts to raise awareness of their balance and fragility, where light, darkness and moisture combine to regenerate and re-evolve. The two mounds in the Health Park intrigued me and standing on the top of the mounds it felt like you can see the world.

Being uprooted and rooted again is like you have been given a second chance. The living tree will continue to grow and become a centrepiece; the upside-down tree will continue to age and regenerate’.

This commission is part of The Art of Well-Being project at Knowle West Health Park in Bristol. The aim of the programme was to create artworks within the Health Park. These were to range from functional objects such as bins and seating designed by artists and local people, to innovative lighting, sculpture, signposting, earthworks, sound and water sculptures. The programme was conceived as a way of increasing local involvement in neighbourhood renewal, and it was intended that there should be opportunities for the local community to be involved with workshops and production of work. With the exception of 23 Hours and the work at the Renal Dialysis Unit, the public art programme has left a legacy of vandalism, disappointment and disagreement.