SFX: Piano music

ALISON SAAR: What we’re looking at is a piece titled Sweet Magnolia that was part of a larger installation titled Fertile Ground. I’m Alison Saar. The way I work is I glue wood together to make a big block, and then I carve it out with a chainsaw, and then go back and clad it with ceiling tin. And so what you’re looking at is this metal, rusty surface, which I thought is really beautiful because it’s embossed and it kind of creates these almost tattoos on her body. 

The story behind the installation called Fertile Ground was really kind of talking about how natural components helped assist slaves living in the South. The trees would offer shelter and shade from working in the fields. Trees were also often used for hanging or for lashings. You know, they would tie the slaves’ arms around the trunk of the tree and beat their backs. And so in some ways I feel that the figure is embracing or holding them through that trauma. Some of these trees are 200 to 300 years old, and they’ve experienced history in a way, and they have an understanding of the past and the present, and I think maybe also an understanding of the future. 

I think of Sweet Magnolia spanning two spaces. There’s this physical space and then there’s also the spiritual space. I’m really interested in mythologies. We keep telling the same stories, explaining the hardships that are being constantly thrown in our way. So I think mythologies help us survive all of that stuff.