fire symbolism

I couldn’t agree more with you about the importance of exploring our relationship with the landscape through making art that interacts with it rather than just depicts it. What about the religious symbolism of fire: that’s the thing that I find most interesting... [Rupert White - artcornwall]

Early on I wanted to Piggy-back my work on to an already existing cultural event and try to melt my work into the memory of the audience. Events like bonfire night/solstice/new year were considered. But I had to be careful in that I didn't want the work to be swamped by the associations of it. As the proposal for the project developed and the time line for it became extended I started looking to the New Year and further calendar dates. I new I could be ready Feb/march and focused on spring equinox. But the pagan side of things was a bit too prominent and so I chose to use the eve of the beginning of British summer time instead. I was much happier about this as it is in itself an anomaly of nature [turning back time] in a similar way to the events happening through climate change. Fire is an extremely evocative material to work with and it is no wonder religions use it to good effect – hell-fire-damnation/wicker man etc. Though aware of the religious connotations of fire it was more a parasitical relationship than meaningful one.