...said The Fig Tree is comprised of a number of figs cast in tin, a closer look revealing occasional fingers or thumbs protruding from their skin. The fig is the only tree mentioned by name in the garden of Eden and in many circles the fig itself is considered to be the fruit Eve shared with Adam, effectively the last unspoiled thing to bare human contact before that very contact brought about a fallen world, infected from within through original sin, so the story goes.

Perhaps conversely the fig tree is also a symbol of prosperity and security throughout the Bible, especially in relation to God's chosen people - an often repeated image being that of the blessed and secure man reclining in the shade of his fig tree, a metaphor frequently extended to God's relationship with Israel as his chosen nation. To whichever meaning the symbol points, fingerprints on and from within these cast figs testify to their handling and contest whatever authority is ascribed them. The figs becomes - like the origin of all divine narratives - contaminated by human presence.

...said The Fig Tree was originally made on residency in rural Dorset using figs from the bountiful tree that shaded me every morning. The fig tree - like the christian faith I grew up believing - is not native. It is culturally appropriated and continually redefined. The fingers press out from within the idea like an impurity, the human impurity embedded in any symbol.