Zina Swanson: The First Stick I Collected Was a Tree

It's true that the first stick I collected was a tree

It was on Blenheim Road in Otāutahi

I didn't drive at the time but I made James do a U-turn

It looked lonely

Dumped in an industrial area

We hired a trailer and took it to the gallery

It was too big to get up the stairs in one piece

So we had to saw it up, in the stairwell, into three pieces

Three sticks

It felt mean

But I put it back together

The sticks in these paintings are dead and dry

Carefully chosen

Separated from their parent plant

Placed in scenarios that suggest domestic situations

Scenarios that suggest life

Scenarios that want to be alive

Shoes

The shoe fits

But obviously it doesn't

Thermometers at full temp

But the stick is obviously not overheating

Bracelets on a stick wrist

A separated limb

Bits of me wrapped around bits of sticks

Washing instructions

From MY clothes

Forcing bits of me onto bits of them

Them

Making them part of my life, by making them part of my paintings

Making a special shelf for them in my studio

The collection keeps growing

Sticks with grafts
Sticks with accessories

The first stick I collected was a tree