“This project starts as a small project, from the myth of Daphne, to the Villa Borghese in Rome, which never happened. The team went home in confinement, embroidering leaves, because it was the only thing I could send to everyone. And I thought, what are we going to do? We are going to embroider the leaves of the said tree and Jean-François Chougnet [exhibition curator] thought it would be a good project for the Chapel. And so the idea of transforming Daphne's tree into the 'Tree of Life' was born, associated with this idea of starting over", he said. Joana Vasconcelos in an interview with the Lusa agency, in Paris.
This work is thus born from the timeless inspiration of a Greek myth, in which Daphne, Apollo's first love, rejects him and asks her father to help her escape the insistence of this god, ending up transforming her into a laurel tree, and from the context in which the piece was conceived, the original date of the Cruzada Season between Portugal and France, which coincided with the covid-19 pandemic.
"It was something produced in the midst of a pandemic, from recycling materials and fabrics that I had in the studio. It was the occupation of many people for many months and was the focus of emotions - even despair and anxiety - and the question 'what will the future?'. All these emotions are part of this project. I told the team and myself that I had to do something positive and fantastic to celebrate the end of that period", explained the artist.
Joana Vasconcelos created a "luxurious and sensual tree" in shades of red, brown and gold, with an intricate fabric trunk, with various handcraft techniques using wool and other materials, which then spreads in the canopy in dozens of branches that host around 140 thousand sheets, some in Castelo Branco embroidery, others covered in sequins, and even leather sheets, where thousands of LED lights were installed.
The artist is unable to estimate the time spent by her team executing this project, as it covered periods of confinement, when artisans could not go to the studio, with Joana Vasconcelos to classify this work as "haute couture", due to the attention it received and the fact that everything was "handmade".
This work should have been inaugurated in September 2022, in order to end the Crusade Season between France and Portugal, but due to technical problems, the opening was postponed to April of this year. To erect this structure and install it inside the century-old chapel, the Portuguese artist had specialists from the National Center of Monuments in France on her side.
"I had a great experience, I think France has a structure that no other country has, with people with a lot of experience. They are demanding, heritage needs to be well taken care of, there are difficulties in bringing contemporary art into history - it's normal. But no I had no problem, I think they helped us a lot", revealed Joana Vasconcelos.
In addition to the pandemic, this installation comes, according to Joana Vasconcelos, also respond to the problem of war, especially the return of war to the European continent with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, due to its harmonious character, citing an important woman for this chapel, Catherine de Medici, widow of King Henry II, who became dedicated to the renovation of the castle of Vincennes after her husband's death.
"She was a woman who believed that valuing the arts brought good to the world, and I believe in that too," he said. Joana Vasconcelos. "It is with these objects that we value workmanship, harmony, beauty and peace. War is ugly, it is warlike, it is industrial, it is metallic and this tree is manual, detailed and handmade".
The visit to the exhibition will be permanently accompanied by music composed by Margarida Gil, specifically for this work, which will be performed by Rui de Luna. The musical piece shares the name of the installation: "Tree of Life". In the next months, Joana Vasconcelos will continue to inaugurate works in different countries, with "O Bolo de Noiva", to be opened to the public in May, in the United Kingdom, with its "Valkyrie" made for the fashion show of the Dior brand, traveling in July until China.
Joana Vasconcelos it will also have an installation in the Uffizi Galleries and in the Pitti Palace, in Florence. In September, there will be an exhibition at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), in Lisbon.