Bodies of Work /

i am an old phenomenon

datura-brugmansia-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
On certain days or nights she anoints a staff and rides (brugmansia, datura [misleading], huacacahu, trumpet flower, angel’s trumpet, snowy angel’s trumpet, angel’s tears), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.

2022–Ongoing

Systems of belief concerning the medicinal, magical and spiritual uses of plant materials were well established in the lives of European forest, nomadic and ancient peoples. However, these beliefs were forcibly supplanted as pagan practices were displaced across Europe and other continents in the wake of Christianity and the rise of capitalism. The consequences of the suppression and attempted erasure of this plant-based belief system continue to be profound. Knowledge, often held by women, of the healing and spiritual effects of plants has been replaced by a significantly more limited emphasis on their predominantly aesthetic qualities. This separation informs our contemporary relationship to plants as being primarily one of commodification.

The images in i am an old phenomenon are part of the re-assemblage of fragments of this old knowledge and, in their ontology, invoke the persecution of wise women, witches and wortcunners who kept this knowledge safe but whose understanding of plants and their connection with reproduction, in particular, represented a threat to the new order. All the plant sculptures photographed are constructed by the artist who has always been interested in the history of floral art and its expansive gendered resonances having worked with plants since childhood.

achillea-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
And as she said thanks and spoke spells (yarrow, yarroway, yerw, gearwe, field hop, achillea, archillia, old man’s pepper, devil’s nettle, devil’s plaything, bad man’s plaything, sanguinary, soldier’s woundwort, hundred leaved grass, thousand seal, thousand weed, carpenter’s weed, milfoil, millefolium, knight’s milfoil, knighten milfoil, nosebleed, herbe militaris, staunchweed, wild maiden herb, schafgarbe, bloodwort), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
apple-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
We thank you for the gift to decide the fate of man from birth (apple), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
birch-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
Sweeping her rooms and sacred places (birch, white birch, beithe, bereza, berke, bouleau, Lady of the Woods, Mother Tree), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
cornflower-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
The loss of the oracle (cornflower, Cyanus, bluebottle, bluet, bluebow, blue cap, bachelor’s buttons, hurtsickle), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
fly-agaric-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
Shine even into its darkest winter (fly agaric, witch’s egg, devil’s egg, the holy mushroom), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
elder-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
Once upon a time forest floor (elder, black elder, common elder, sweetelder, boor tree, bore tree, elderberry, elder bush, pipe tree, bour tree, bore tree, old ladybore tree, old gal, lady elhorn, elder mother, hylder, hylantree, hollunder, hildemoer, eldrum, elhorn, sureau, witch’s tree), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
hawthorn-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
They served things ground to soil (hawthorn, hagthorn, may, mayblossom, may tree, whitethorn, quickthorn, huath, haw, hazels, gazels, gazels, halves, ladies’ meat, bread and cheese tree), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
feverfew-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
Just like her grandmother’s grandmother (feverfew, featherfew, featherfoil, feddygen, fenyw, flirtwort, mother’s herb, mutterkraut, Santa Maria, bachelor’s buttons, grande chamomile), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
ginger-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
She could lie on her back and sink (ginger, imbir, Asian ginger, zingiber), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
morning-glory-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
She thinks the plants (morning glory, bindweed, hedge bindweed, convolvulus), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
sloe-07-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
She addressed the tree with the respectful name (sloe, sloe berry, blackthorn, spiny shrub, Mother of the Wood, wishing thorn), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
larkspur-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
Loss paving the way for her new enclosure (larkspur, lark’s claw, lark’s heel, lark’s toe, knight’s spur, delphinium, dolphin flower), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
roots-02-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
All the herbalists and I are root diggers (roots, root diggers, wortcunners, root men, root maids), 2022. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
rowan-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton
Tied together with red thread (rowan, moon tree, mountain ash), 2023. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
plantain-vertical-3500px_iamanoldphenomenon@annshelton-srgb
Lady of the dead and King of the road (broad-leaved plantain, snake plantain, black plantain, long plantain, plantago, ribble grass, ripple grass, ribwort, waybread, waybroad, slan-lus, snakeweed, cuckoo’s bread, englishman’s foot, white man’s foot, herb ivy, buck’s horn, buckshorne, hartshorn, black Jack, Jackstraw, buck’s tongue, goat’s tongue, lamb’s tongue, sheep’s tongue, sheep’s herb, hen plant, cocks, wendles, kemps, quinquenervia, costa canina, lækeblad, læknisgras, herb of Prosperpina, arnoglossa, five-vened), 2023. Archival giclée print on Hahnemühle bamboo, 840 × 1119 mm.
ann-shelton-install-1-iaaop-photo-cheska-brown
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Bartley and Company Art, 2023. Photo Cheska Brown.
ann-shelton-install-3-iaaop-photo-cheska-brown
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Bartley and Company Art, 2023. Photo Cheska Brown.
ann-shelton-install-2-iaaop-photo-cheska-brown
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Bartley and Company Art, 2023. Photo Cheska Brown.
ann-shelton-install-4-photo-cheska-brown
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Bartley and Company Art, 2023. Photo Cheska Brown.
annshelton_iamanoldphenomenon_install_01_mr
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Denny Gallery, New York, 2022.
annshelton_iamanoldphenomenon_install_11_mr
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Denny Gallery, New York, 2022.
annshelton_iamanoldphenomenon_install_02_mr
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Denny Gallery, New York, 2022.
annshelton_iamanoldphenomenon_install_03_mr
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Denny Gallery, New York, 2022.
annshelton_iamanoldphenomenon_install_04_mr
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Denny Gallery, New York, 2022.
annshelton_iamanoldphenomenon_install_05_mr
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Denny Gallery, New York, 2022.
annshelton_iamanoldphenomenon_install_06_mr
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Denny Gallery, New York, 2022.
annshelton_iamanoldphenomenon_install_07_mr
i am an old phenomenon, installation view, Denny Gallery, New York, 2022.