Hide in Beech

On the weekends I often make a trip to the countryside where I stare into a deep backyard garden, watching the birds do as they please. On one of these weekends, I was informed that the beech hedge, which divides the property I stay at from its neighbour, was and is an ideal natural fence and windbreaker as the leaves do not fall off come winter. I love watching the blackbirds fly in and out of the hedge, chasing one another, and playing hide and seek.

The birds and the hedge procured me to think about natural and organic things that are forced to change and conform to manmade environments. Blackbirds previously were not as common as they are today, but it was their ability to evolve in response to the human existence that allowed them to flourish while other species have decreased. The beech and birds have both been shaped by human hands, inspiring me to make my ‘Hind in Beech’ pattern, which I have thus made into a scarf.

When the scarf is stretched out for one to see, the pattern consists of golden amber beech leaves and blackbirds in ridged, unnatural diagonal rows. This is a comment on how the wilderness and wildlife have been rearranged from its natural order. However, when the scarf is worn and wrapped around the body, the birds and beech leaves return to their natural order and the pattern becomes much more organic. Once again the birds look as if they are playing hide and seek in the beech.