Vigil

Vigil is the outcome of an interspecies collaboration seeking to endorse ecocentric perspectives, which foreground the equity and interdependence between human and ecological bodies.

It is a statement of acknowledgement that, via storytelling, ritual mourning and allusion to myth, honours the individual subjectivity of the particular Black Poplar tree at Orleans House, while also lamenting the depletion of the species that is symptomatic of broader environmental collapse. The myth of Phaeton- in particular, his grieving sisters’ transformation into Black Poplar trees, and the scourging of Earth, undergirds Vigil, providing the conceptual link between mourning, environmental trauma and the Black Poplar. Narration occurs at a pace significantly slower than is typical of human communication, which both immerses the recipient within the longer span of ecological, ‘tree time’, and facilitates an ethic of giving due attention and time to an ‘other’ species. The piece is designed to lament, but also redress, the consequences of the environmental crisis. It also confronts the conditions that perpetuate ecological violence: apathy, disconnection and the anthropomorphic perspective, which situates nature beyond the sanctioned sphere of care. The listener is invited to slow-down, witness and reflect upon their relationship to, and place within, the planetary whole, in solidarity with the Black Poplar tree.

Vigil initially existed as a short film, which is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HdJpmE1ZoM. Further work by the artist, Eden Spence can be found at the Instagram handle @edenespence.

Eden Spence is a cross-disciplinary documentarian, writer and artist based between London and the New Forest. She is particularly interested in stories pertaining to ecology, mythic imaginations and sustainable futures. Her projects seek to foster a radical ethic of care that encompasses human and extra-human beings equally, while simultaneously unpicking the structures that sacrelizes certain bodies, while inflicting grievous violence against ‘others’. Eden works with words, photography and illustration- drawing inspiration from ancient myths and oral traditions, woven through with contemporary eco-critical discourse and innovations, to create works which invite the recipient to pause in the rapid stream of modern time, and consider their relationship to the all-expansive planetary whole. Eden is currently studying on LCC’s MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, having graduated from the University of Exeter with a degree in English Literature (First Class)in 2020.