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There are mysterious and sacred sites in Mexico called encantos, where heaven and earth are believed to be in direct communication. People make pilgrimages to these places and leave ex-votos, small pieces of wood or tin painted with words and images to express wishes, prayers and thanks. I see trees as natural encantos, physical conduits linking earth and sky, soil and spirit.

The images from this series come from trees that have become sacred sites for me in my own reflective practice, trees I sit under often, looking both upward and inward. I photograph, collage and paint what I see from a seemingly impossible vantage point– my way of imagining what trees would see if they could look at themselves from the inside out, and in an even more abstract sense, what I might glimpse if I could see myself stripped bare of the complexities of personality and narrative.

Re-envisioning the familiar form of the tree as a rare and magical space coaxes me into a heightened state of awareness where I can freely offer my own wishes and gratitudes. As I collage and paint each tree, I inscribe the backs of many of the image fragments with messages: snippets of dreams, small prayers, strangely meaningful slogans on street signs, wild hopes, and offerings of deep thanks.

In the same way that the Mexican notion of the encanto plays on the separations we often unthinkingly impose in our everyday lives (for example, between those spaces which are sacred and those which are not), I’m engaging and experimenting with a range of different dualisms in these tree images: the interplay of internal and external spaces, geometric and organic forms, realistic and abstract renderings, familiar and strange perspectives.

For more information and to purchase or commission a piece of artwork, please contact me via email at kate.quarfordt@gmail.com or by phone at 646-320-2822.