'Electra' from the series Tartarus by Grete Hjorth-Johansen
In ancient Greek mythology Electra was a Danaide, one of the 50 daughters of Danaus. These ladies were all, apart from one, thrown into Tartarus for killing their husbands on their wedding night.
When I came across this tree in Epping Forest I was struck by how pained it looked, leaning over, almost fallen, trapped in a circle of holly. I wanted to capture this agony, and so I went about shooting the scene frame by frame, lighting Electra with red and then the surrounding trees with blue. I often go back to the scene and the tree is still standing but only just about. Some bits have fallen off and soon only a pile of dust will be left.
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The old, pollarded trees of Epping Forest have caught my imagination as I explore the pained expressions that emerge once the trees are lit and isolated – screaming in silent agony but also still standing mighty proud.
Pollarding – the repeated cutting of timber – damages the trees until they die, hollow, contorted and exhausted.
Tartarus was the place of torture in the Greek underworld where the inhabitants were often forced to endlessly repeat futile tasks, much like these trees were repeatedly cut until 1870 when the commercial use of Epping Forest ended.
Each tree represents a deity with a connection to Tartarus. Beauty, suffering, myth and local history all come together to reveal the power struggle between human needs for timber and nature fighting back.
The photograph is a high resolution panoramic stitch and composite of several frames, lit with a flashlight in Epping Forest, UK.
Limited edition archival giclée prints are available from my website ghjstudio.com.
The first buyer of this NFT gets a 40% discount on the Electra print.
This NFT is for personal use only. I retain the commercial rights to the image.
