(Above)Arbor Erecta, Web artwork, 1998.
at
users.lanminds.com/~sonyarap/arborerecta/arbor.html (Photos of trees courtesy of Emily Goldberg)
In 159 A.D., the Greek physician Galen declared God created plants as a provision for the health of human beings,
and left a sign on them---some feature of their shape, color, habitat or
behavior---for human beings to decipher. As an example, he pointed
to a plant shaped like an ear that is a cure for earaches.
(Above) Detail from Arbor Erecta
Arbor Erecta,
a botanical concept for masculinity, illustrates this ethos. In this piece, the
transsexual change of James Green from female to male is fancifully interwoven
with New Guinea initiation rites of tree bonding. As James grows from his
female body into that of a male, he re-enacts the New Guinea tribal rituals
that purge the female pollutants acquired from the mother.
Sonya Rapoport, 6 Hillcrest Court, Berkeley, CA 94705, U.S.A.
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