Briana McCarthy

Influence Discussion

The Bleeding Tree by Hollie Starling

Hollie Starling’s experience with grief and her reactions to it are very similar to my own: a frustration with western practices initiating a retreat into nature and a search for peace through the investigation of grief practices across cultures. Both of our journeys rooted to the feeling that we’re missing something as a society.

Her writing helped me find the language to describe my experience: the revelatory phrase describing grief as being, “...deep in the woods” (Starling, 2023, p. 10). The seed of my visual work is consistently based in language and writing, so having the vocabulary in place for my art is very important.

Starling, H. (2023) The bleeding tree: a pathway through grief guided by forests, folk tales and the ritual year. London: Rider, an imprint of Ebury Publishing.

Three Journal Articles

The psychology of funeral rituals
Facilitating grief: an exploration of the function of funerals and rituals in relation to grief reactions
It's like a tattoo": rethinking dominant discourses on grief

These three journals provided insight into the discussion of personal grief and societal expectations of grief. They helped me situate the discomfort, and the causes for it, I have felt in my own journey. These are discussed in depth within my Critical Reflection.

Giblin, P., Hug, A. (2006) 'The Psychology of Funeral Rituals' , Liturgy, 21(1), p. 11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/04580630500285956

Mitima-Verloop, H. B., Mooren, T. T. M. and Boelen, P. A. (2021) 'Facilitating grief: an exploration of the function of funerals and rituals in relation to grief reactions' , Death Studies, 45(9), pp. 735-745. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2019.1686090

Ord, R. L. (2009). '"It's like a tattoo": rethinking dominant discourses on grief ', Canadian Social Work Review / Revue Canadienne de Service Social, 26(2), pp. 195–211. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41669912

The Wellcome Collection: Miracles and Charms and The Pitt Rivers Museum

The Wellcome Collection press release for the Miracles and Charms exhibition included items borrowed from the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, UK. The exhibition being closed, I was able to visit the objects at their permanent home. I was interested in the objects that people give power to. Many of these objects are oddly formed rocks, like hag stones which have a naturally formed hole through them. Other objects were the results of rituals or spells, such as a ribbon knotted with pins placed throughout it or a toad stuck with thorns and nails. Similar objects could have different meanings and uses for different people, but most appeared to fall into the categories of cures, protection, or to cause harm. This collection brought to mind the common necessity to use physical objects to anchor belief, hope, and thought: to give the intangible physical form.

Wellcome (2011) Miracles and charms at Wellcome Collection. Available at: https://wellcome.org/press-release/miracles-charms-wellcome-collection (Accessed: 27 October 2023).

Magic, Ritual and Belief (no date) [Exhibition]. Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Motoi Yamamoto: Saltworks

“I keep creating so that I will not forget memories of my family.” - Motoi Yamamoto (Yamamoto, no data)

I am drawn to the intricacy and the meditative quality of making in Yamamoto’s work. The installations are expansive, delicate, and time dedicated. The act of creating art is the ritual. I share the need to create in order to find understanding and peace that Yamamoto demonstrates and his process brought clarity to how to proceed in my own work as I worked out my own personal ritual for 8 Day Vigil: 9 years, 37 years, 70 years.

Image:

Worring, S. (2010) Installation Labyrinth. Available at: https://www.motoi-works.com/en/works/installation-labyrinth (Accessed: 13 January 2024).

Yamamoto (no date) About. Available at: https://www.motoi-works.com/en/about (Accessed: 18 December 2023).

Bibliography

Brimhall, T. (2021) The grief artist. Available at: https://www.guernicamag.com/the-grief-artist/ (Accessed: 15 October 2023).

Day, C. L. (1950) "Knots and knot lore", Western Folklore, 9(3), pp. 229–256. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1520741

Day, C. L. (1957) 'Knots and knot lore: quipus and other mnemonic knots' , Western Folklore, 16(1), pp. 8–26. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1497058

Giblin, P., Hug, A. (2006) 'The Psychology of Funeral Rituals' , Liturgy, 21(1), p. 11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/04580630500285956

Łaszkiewicz, W. (2017) 'Into the wild woods: on the significance of trees and forests in fantasy fiction' , Mythlore, 36(1 (131)), pp. 39–58. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26809256

Magic, Ritual and Belief (no date) [Exhibition]. Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Smith, C. (2021) A stone you never put down: the secret languages of grief. Available at: https://lithub.com/a-stone-you-never-put-down-the-secret-languages-of-grief (Accessed: 14 October 2023).

Starling, H. (2023) The bleeding tree: a pathway through grief guided by forests, folk tales and the ritual year. London: Rider, an imprint of Ebury Publishing.

Weiss, A. (2013) Installation floating garden. Available at: https://www.motoi-works.com/en/works/installation-floatinggarden (Accessed: 13 January 2024).

Wellcome (2011) Miracles and charms at Wellcome Collection. Available at: https://wellcome.org/press-release/miracles-charms-wellcome-collection (Accessed: 27 October 2023).

Worring, S. (2010) Installation Labyrinth. Available at: https://www.motoi-works.com/en/works/installation-labyrinth (Accessed: 13 January 2024).

Yamamoto (no date) About. Available at: https://www.motoi-works.com/en/about (Accessed: 18 December 2023).

Using Format