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![Archival postcard. Gwydyr Castle in Wales. Large topiary of yew tree next to historical castle under overcast sky. Caernarfonshire, Wales. Taxus baccata.]()
Yew Tree Topiary at Gwydyr Castle, Caernarfonshire, Wales. Date unknown. Found archival postcard. Published by Raphael Tuck & Sons.
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Bleeding Yew
Bleeding Yew is a photography and archival research project exploring the yew trees' (Taxus species) unique regenerative abilities. I employ anthropomorphic metaphors to consider yew trees agents of change in reparations following abuses of power.
Funded in part by an Arts Council England 'Develop Your Creative Practice' project grant.
(The content of this project contains some references to sexual violence and paedophilia).
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![Apple tree. Bleeding Yew. Leeds. West Yorkshire. Medium format photography.]()
Apple Tree, Leeds, West Yorkshire. Medium format photograph. 2020.
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![Bardsea. Lancashire. England. Yew trees. Historical photograph. Early twentieth century. Vintage postcard. Raphael Tuck & Sons. Yew tree. Archival image. Taxus baccata.]()
Bardsea, Lancarshire. c.1904. Found archival postcard. Published by Raphael Tuck & Sons.
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![Landscape photography. Leeds. West Yorkshire. Bleeding Yew. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
Leeds, West Yorkshire. 2020.
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![Soldiers Field. Bleeding Yew. Leeds. West Yorkshire. Medium format photography.]()
'Soldier's Field' in Leeds, West Yorkshire. 2020.
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![Land-art photography. Red vegetable dye eco-paint applied to torn patch of autumnal woodland tree. Bleeding Yew. Leeds. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
Painted Bleeding Tree. Strained Vegetable Beetroot Paint Applied to Torn Patch on Woodland Tree at Roundhay Park in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Medium format photograph. 2020.
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![Land-art photography. Red vegetable dye eco-paint applied to removed branches on autumnal woodland tree. Bleeding Yew. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
Painted Bleeding Tree. Strained Vegetable Beetroot Paint Applied to Removed 'Limbs' (Branches) on Woodland Tree at Gledhow Valley Woods in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Medium format photograph. 2020.
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![Land-art photography. Red vegetable dye eco-paint applied to torn bracket fungi on autumnal woodland tree. Bleeding Yew. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
Painted Bleeding Tree. Strained Vegetable Beetroot Paint Applied to Bracket Fungi on Woodland Tree at Gledhow Valley Woods in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Medium format photograph. 2020.
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Archival yew-related imagery was considered during the project’s research period. An edit of these historical photographs, postcards, and illustrations have inspired new analogue photography works, as well as cyanotypes toned with beetroot emulsion. Through presenting visual documentation of interventions performed in the landscape, alongside writing about the regenerative growth patterns of yew trees, the project hopes to hold a candle towards often obscured and inconspicuous forms of gendered violence.
Works have been made in various locations across the UK, including Leeds (West Yorkshire), Morvern (Scottish Highlands), Kingley Vale (South Downs, West Sussex), Cumbria, and more.
An early stage of the project involved applying vegetable beetroot paint to different parts of woodland trees, inspired by bloodlike ‘sap bleeding’ that occurs naturally on some yew trees, especially after rainfall. These open insides highlight the yew’s capacity to grow outwards. The application of the dye pairs the appearance of human blood drawn from traumatic injuries, both emotional and physical, with the regenerative potentials of the yew.
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![Landscape still life photography. Scottish highland landscape window view. Bleeding Yew. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
View from the Kitchen on the Croft looking towards the Isle of Mull. Morvern, Scotland. Medium format photograph. 2021.
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![Archival photograph. Black and white. Yew bow. Workbench. The Field Museum. Yew trees. Wood work. Taxus baccata.]()
Yew Longbows on F.S. Barnes' Workbench at Forest Grove (Oregon, U.S.A). 1910. Found archival photograph. The Field Museum Library Archive, Chicago. Digital Identifier: CSB33100.
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![Paint preparation. Knife. Movern. Scotland. Scottish Highlands. Beetroot. Bleeding Yew. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo. Still life.]()
Paint Preparation - Sliced Beetroot in the Kitchen on the Croft. Morvern, Scotland. Medium format photograph. 2021.
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![Cyanotype. Toned cyanotype. Beetroot toner. Vegetable toner. Vegetable paint. Cameraless photography. Carminotype. Operation Yewtree. Taxus baccata. Art therapy. PTSD. Yew seeds.]()
Carminotype of Yew Seeds. (Cyanotype Toned with Beetroot). 2024.
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![Yew bow. Field Museum Library. Archival Image. Taxus Baccata. H.R. Richardson. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Archival photography. Archives. Black and white. Bleeding Yew.]()
H.R. Richardson's Yew Bow at Forest Grove (Oregon, U.S.A). 1910. Found archival photograph. The Field Museum Library Archive, Chicago. Digital Identifier: CSB33100.
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![Landscape photography. Scottish highlands. Morvern. Sound of Mull. Isle of Mull. Bleeding Yew. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
The Isle of Mull from Rhemore, Morvern, Scotland. Medium format photograph. 2021.
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Bleeding Yew took as its starting point the purportedly neutral name of the investigation into Jimmy Savile’s sexual abuse crimes: Operation Yewtree. Savile, one of the most recognisable television hosts in the UK, was responsible for at least 450 sex offences (328 committed against children).
Popular national institutions became implicated in preserving a predatory media culture, allowing his crimes to 'hide in plain sight'. Savile had close ties to the royal family, including Princess Diana and Prince Charles, who sought advice from him on how to connect with the public.
Operation Yewtree was launched in October 2012, the same year I graduated from a high school located in close vicinity of his flat in Leeds. In between, on ‘Soldiers’ Field’, were also the sites of where several Peter Sutcliffe (known as the Yorkshire Ripper) attacks took place in the 1970s.
Three 'Painted Bleeding Trees' were made near to these locations.
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![Archival Image. Perry Barr. Yew tree. Taxus baccata. Archival photography. Bleeding Yew. Philip Whitehouse. Rocky Lane. Birmingham City Council Archives. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
A Girl Standing Inside the Old Yew Tree on Rocky Lane in Perry Barr. 1898. Birmingham City Council Archives. By Photographer P. Whitehouse. Reference: WK-P3-37.
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![Red paint. Bleeding Yew. London. Analogue photography. Self portrait.]()
Self Portrait with Red Paint. The Chilterns. Medium format photograph. 2024
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![Yew tree to side of image with gate, at the entrance of English churchyard, with historical church featured in background. Cumbria. Underbarrow. Plaubel Makina 67. Taxus baccata. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo]()
Yew at Underbarrow, Cumbria. Medium format photograph. 2023.
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![Arboreal photography. Ancient yew tree at Kingley Vale in the South Downs. Taxus baccata. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Bleeding Yew. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
Elder Tree in Ancient Yew Grove at Kingley Vale in the South Downs, West Sussex. Medium format photograph. 2022.
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![Old postcard showing extended branches of yew tree canopy. Near Stanton. Whittingehame. East Lothian. Historical photograph. Yew history. Taxus baccata. Bleeding Yew. Archives. Photography Archives.]()
Whittingehame Village Yew (East Lothian, Scotland). c.1938. Found archival postcard. Published by Raphael Tuck & Sons. Published by Raphael Tuck & Sons.
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![Arboreal photography. Landscape. Tree branches. Horizontality. Rhizome. Ancient yew tree. Kingley Vale. South Downs. Bleeding Yew. Taxus baccata. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
Extended Boughs in Kingley Vale Ancient Yew Grove in the South Downs, West Sussex. Medium format photograph. 2022.
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![Cyanotype. Beetroot. Toned cyanotype. Bleeding Yew. Animal skull. Kingley Vale. Yew trees. Camera-less photography. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
Animal Skull Inside Hollowed Out Heartwood of an Ancient Yew Tree at Kingley Vale in the South Downs, West Sussex. Digital scan of cyanotype toned with beetroot juice emulsion.
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![Bleeding Yew. Yew tree. Branches. Medium format photography. Kingley Vale. South Downs. Operation Yewtree. Taxus baccata. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
Kingley Vale Ancient Yew Grove in the South Downs, West Sussex. Medium format photograph. 2022.
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![Cyanotype. Beetroot. Toned cyanotype. Bleeding Yew. Tree needles. Kingley Vale. Yew trees. Camera-less photography. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
Yew Needles. Digital scan of cyanotype toned with beetroot juice emulsion. 2023.
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![Yew Branch and Seeds. British Woodland Trees. H.L. Edlin. Archival illustration. Botanical Illustration. Taxus baccata. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
Yew Branch and Seeds. c.1945. Found archival illustration. In 'British Woodland Trees' by H.L. Edlin. Reference: 118. p.126.
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Kingley Vale Ancient Yew Grove in the South Downs, West Sussex. Medium format photograph. 2022.
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![Cyanotype using acetate and yew plant material. Toned with beetroot emulsion. Camera-less photography process. Darkroom. Yew tree needles. Taxus baccata. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
Oliver Under Yew at Kingley Vale in the South Downs, West Sussex. Cyanotype toned with beetroot juice emulsion.
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![Arboreal photography. Natural red patch on ancient bleeding yew tree at Kingley Vale in the South Downs. Plaubel Makina 67. Landscape photo. The Golden Bough. Operation Yewtree. Taxus baccata. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
Natural Bleeding Trunk and Rhizomatic Root Growth at Kingley Vale Ancient Yew Grove in the South Downs, West Sussex. Medium format photograph. 2022.
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Yew trees emerge as negotiators of change: they can grow to be thousands of years old and are commonly associated with death, purgatory, and re-generation, and are often found near religious sites of worship. The yew tree is not a neutral symbol.
Bio-electric studies have shown Taxus employs root systems with the highest vitality among trees, investing heavily in them as seedlings, making yew extremely adaptive (Yew: A History, Fred Hageneder).
Extended branches of the tree can root new trunks when they touch the ground. These rhizomatic, expansive growths have formed ancient groves like at Kingley Vale. In some trees here, patches of bark seep deep ruddy and mauve sap.
One theory about why yew trees bleed is that rainwater becomes soaked by the tree’s heartwood and then escapes through its bark (Woodland Trust).
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![Yew tree. Yew hedge. Bleeding Yew. London. Analogue photography. Landscape photography. Operation Yewtree. Taxus baccata. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
Yew Hedge, Regents Park, London. Medium format photograph. 2024.
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![Topiary. Yew tree. Yew topiary. Bleeding Yew. London. Analogue photography. Self portrait. Operation Yewtree. Taxus baccata. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
Self Portrait with Regents Park Yew Topiary, London. Medium format photograph. 2024.
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![Topiary. Yew tree. Yew topiary. Bleeding Yew. London. Analogue photography. Self portrait. Operation Yewtree. Taxus baccata. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
Self Portrait with Regents Park Yew Topiary, London. Medium format photograph. 2024.
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![Bleeding Yew. Self portrait. 120mm photograph. Medium format Photography. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD.]()
Self Portrait with Paint at Studio, London. Medium format photograph. 2024
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![Cyanotype. Toned cyanotype. Beetroot toner. Vegetable toner. Vegetable paint. Cameraless photography. Carminotype. Operation Yewtree. Taxus baccata. Art therapy. PTSD. Yew seeds.]()
Carminotype Holding Yew Seeds. Cyanotype toned with beetroot. 2024.
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![Gravestones in graveyard under a yew tree at Stoke Poges. Buckinghamshire. Found archival postcard. Historical image. Archival photograph. Yew tree history. Taxus baccata.]()
Graveyard Yew at Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. c.1930. Found archival postcard. Published by Raphael Tuck & Sons.
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![Yew trees in English churchyard with gravestones in the foreground. Ambleside, Cumbria. 120mm film. Medium format photography. Plaubel Makina 67. Taxus baccata. Operation Yewtree. Art therapy. PTSD. Medium format photography. 120mm photo.]()
Yew Trees in St Mary's Churchyard, Ambleside, Cumbria. Medium format photograph. 2023.
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Some species of fungus, such as the sulphur bracket (chicken of the woods), can break down the insides of the trunk’s heartwood. Yew eventually becomes hollow with age, like the slow rotting of the old establishment’s core.
The tree re-cycles decaying matter into re-territorialised growths, highlighting the possibility to rethink destructive features of contemporary society.
These processes, while disintegrating internal systems, can, over time, strengthen external structures against breakages. They and we can thus grow flexibly and resiliently, with some ability to sway with the wind.
This series has been inspired by psychoanalytic approaches to art-making, as well as my own experience accessing therapy.
If you, or anyone you know, has been or is affected by sexual abuse, these organisations provide information about where you can find further support:
Please also feel free to get in touch if you would like to discuss any aspects of this project.
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