Bewitched (2022)

The rowan tree was considered blessed in Scotland. People planted it in front of their houses for good luck and made crosses and hoops out of its branches to protect themselves from witchcraft. Cutting it was taboo. Yet, in his witchcraft treatise Daemonologie (1597) James VI questioned whether “commonlie daft wives… knitting Rowan trees” were practising witchery…

The series was inspired by the research of the 16-18th century witch-hunt archives. Many of the accused “witches” in the UK were midwifes and “wise women” well-versed in herbal remedies. The images are composites of silver gelatin photographs of cursed and blessed plants with embedded photograms- allegories for false beliefs, which were planted in people’s minds and led to institutionalised prosecution of anyone who didn’t fit in.