Mother of the Tree

A new one from one of my favorite artists, Madeline von Foerster. This piece really speaks to me... such a beautiful concept brought to life in a gorgeous painting. Her words are below.




















TSARIWA MAMA (The Mother of the Tree)
2009, Oil and Egg Tempera on Panel
30 x 40 inches; 76 x 102.5 cm

This painting was inspired by my trip to the Peruvian Amazon. In addition to seeing many beautiful plants and animals (examples of which are included in the painting), I was given a chance to meet and interview a 78 year old shaman from the Cokama tribe. With our travel guide George acting as an interpreter, I asked the shaman, Junaito, to describe some challenges he might confront while making his medicines. His response was extremely enlightening.

Juanito said that each plant or tree has a mother spirit, and this spirit must be consulted, and her wishes followed, before the plant can be harvested -- otherwise the plant might harm him, or the person he intends to treat. As an example of the demands of a plant's mother spirit, he mentioned Cat's Claw vine (Uncaria guianensis, used to heal women after childbirth and treat cancer, depicted in the bottom left of the painting). According to Juanito, the mother spirit of the Cat's Claw vine requires him to follow a special diet for four years, before he can harvest it! (I did some follow up research on that plant and discovered that it has allergic properties -- so it is entirely possible that the special diet counteracts those).

I found the concept of a tree's mother spirit to express a beautiful and touching attitude towards nature and medicine. Moreover, in a strange case of synchronicity, the image corresponded to a drawing I had made the night before, of a carved wooden woman with a tree growing out of her abdomen. (I was inspired by the fecundity of the rainforest, and how fallen trees "mother" new life, assisted by busy invertebrate midwives.) Developing the image, I decided this tree, and it's "mother," would be Cumaru (Dipteryx odorata). The Cumaru's pink blossoms produce a spice called tonka bean, and the tree also has medicinal purposes. However, it is most prized for its hard grained, beautifully golden wood -- for which reason the tree has been very severely logged throughout the Amazon.

In naming the painting, I contacted George to see if he could find out how to say "The Mother of the Tree" in the Cokama language. He was kind enough to obtain this information for me, and so, in a language, and from a tribe, who are both nearly extinct, comes a title for a painting very far away: "Tsariwa Mama."