The olive tree has long been a symbol of peace, hope, harmony, endurance, healing, hope and wisdom along with providing mankind with wonderful fruit and tasty oil.  However, in the last few years in Turkey’s Marmara olive growing region there has been mass destruction of the olive trees.  Olives can, economically, be a very fickle crop so farmers looking for a more steady income are replacing the trees either with blocks of apartment buildings or more economically stable crops such as kiwi, peaches, and grapes. 

Watching the massive trees being pulled out of the earth is brutal and heart wrenching and one feels as though you can hear them screaming.  Some are destined to live alone as ornamental orphans in shopping malls or in the gardens of luxury homes, others will either go up in flames or be repurposed as cutting boards, bowls, and other household accessories.  

I try to remember the stature and grace of these gentle giants, now silver angels, how they graced our lives and witnessed our history.  

(This project was done in response to a challenge entitled Brutal Beauty and I opted to experiment. These mixed media collages were done with a combination of both regular and infrared photos combined with gelli plate prints and olive tree bits.)