After Eden
Hydroponics: the process of growing plants without soil in sand, gravel, or liquid, using added nutrients
The After Eden project (1995-1999) involved plant-life, notably apple trees, which are often referred to biblically as the Tree of Knowledge. It used a variety of horticultural techniques including micro-propagation and hydroponics to create support systems or micro-climates to keep the plants alive. The artworks were strongly informed by quantum physics, as a way to reconsider the taxonomy and 'top-down' thinking model that our culture has inherited. It explored inter-connectedness both as a concept, and as way of working. As such, Edwina collaborated with individuals working in other fields, and created works in situ rather than in a studio.
The installations explored mutability and change - the plants' growth, flowering, fruiting and/or decay created the overriding narrative for each artwork. The projects celebrated the inter-dependency of humans on each other and our relationship with (and concept of what is), 'Nature'.\
It involved four intertwined installations:
:
Conception
Life and dead matter
Earthly Delights
Tree of Knowledge
Micropropation:the growing of plants from seed or tiny pieces of tissue under hygienic conditions in a laboratory on particularly selected media. It is used in genetic modification, and in instances when the plant has been bred to not produce seeds e.g. seedless grapes
‘Of the assemblages, only Edwina fitzPatrick’s Conception of plastic tubing, clamps, water, apple pips, a live apple tree bearing fruit, and the family tree of the decent from Adam and Eve written in pencil on the wall, is intelligent, witty and exquisite enough to justify the genre’
Brian Sewell. Evening Standard 1/9/96 on the Whitechapel Open.
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