Ash to Ash

The White Horse Wood Country Park is not the most inspiring of locations, sandwiched between the M20 and the A249 just below Maidstone. The sound of birdsong is drowned out by the constant thrum of traffic, so it is a relief to emerge through the scrub and be presented not only with a stunning view across the North Downs, but also two huge wooden sculptures. The monoliths, created by environmental artists Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey, stand as a homage to the Ash tree; silhouetted against the landscape they are a poignant reminder of the importance of this now threatened species.

Ackroyd & Harvey are renowned for combining their practice with environmental concerns. They are key members of the Culture Declares Emergency initiative, that in 2019 worked with Tate Modern to declare a climate emergency. In the same year they presented their living artwork, Beuys’ Acorns (2019), a collection of 52 Oak saplings taken from German artist’s, Joseph Beuys’s 1982 piece entitled 7000 Oaks. Beuys’s work, in which he planted Oak trees throughout the city of Kassel, was seen as a gesture of urban renewal in complete contrast to Ash to Ash, which stands as a memorial, not only to the trees but also to the almost 1000 different species of flora and fauna that depend upon it.

The Ash tree has a long history. Vikings attributed mythical powers to the tree, believing it connected the earth with heaven and in Britain the wood was said to have protective properties, babies were often given a spoonful of ash sap to ward off disease. Druids used the wood to make wands and its strength and straightness was ideal for making ploughs, carts and wheel rims and a whole range of weapons. The two 10m high trunks created by Ackroyd and Harvey are sheathed in a mass of arrows that cast strange shadows and provide glimpses of the sky and views beyond. They are a testament to the tree’s strength but also a sad reminder of its threatened status, a tree under attack, perhaps? The artists refer to the arrow staves as the trees epicormic growth and these shoots typically occur as a response to fire or in the death throes following disease.

Hymenoscyphus fraxineus or Ash Dieback is a fungal disease that is predicted to wipe out over 140 million of our British Ash trees. In reference to this, one trunk stands pale and smooth whilst the other has been burnt black and charred, using a process similar to charcoal burning.

Accompanying the sculpture, Ackroyd & Harvey identified over 1,300 towns, villages, farms, rivers, dales, woodlands and significant buildings in England, Wales and Scotland that contained ‘ash’, derivations of ‘ash’ or early linguistic forms of ‘ash’ within their name. With the help of students from the University of Kent, each name was inscribed on a wall in ash charcoal, illustrating how much the tree was ingrained in not only our culture, but also our language and geography.

The Ash Project was organised by Kent Downs AONB as a cultural response to the threat of Ash dieback. Over 2 years, the Project worked with artists, scientists and the public to document the importance of the Ash tree and, critically, to develop a program of replacement and regeneration.

The sculpture is due for removal in 2025 and it's going to be interesting, and a little poignant, to watch its slow decay over the next few years.