Named and Known
You have searched me and you know me (Psalm 139)
Over the last year we have been presented with numbers, statistics and graphs. Different ways of showing the impact of the pandemic. After a year, the most telling statistic is the number of deaths. Over 126,000 on March 23rd 2021.
This piece, made at The Chapel in the Fields from Yew, attempts to capture the full year of Covid related deaths. The overall shape is a copy of the outline of the graph taken after twelve months. Each carefully shaped piece of yew represents a life, someone known and loved, someone with a name.
There is a uniqueness to every human life lost, to each shape that has been fashioned. These lives, lost to the pandemic fit into a bigger picture. The irregular gaps depict a sense of brokenness and vulnerability that exists when we recall the people we have lost. Note that the righthand side of the base is different to the lefthand side, an indication that we are not through this yet.
The piece of Yew come from the branches of the trees at the back of the Chapel. The Yew tree has been associated with death, rebirth and sacred places. They were planted in pre-Christian times to create hallowed land, and can live for over a thousand years.
