‘Diva Tree’ : Cambridge : 2004 

A monumental tree had to be cut down to enable a road to be built to the Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, England, leading to a series of public protests. I decided to use this as the theme of an artwork, which would be situated close to the new road. The old tree would be replaced by a gold-coloured ‘art-tree’, metaphorically ‘swinging it’ like a diva should. However, within ten years the slightly frivolous and shiny artificial tree would be covered in ivy, eventually resembling many of the old tree trunks in the surrounding area and connecting it back to the larger natural cycle of life.