Memory/Wishing Tree

A community art-poetry project for New York Restoration Project (NYRP) at The Bathgate Garden in the Bronx.

There is a tree in the garden that had been indiscriminately dumped by a contractor but it grew out of its burlap sack to root itself in this park.  

The tree is “miraculous” in its way and its story can nest in a larger context of sacred trees, as you might find in Ireland or Sri Lanka or the Incan empire.

With other sacred trees, there has been a long tradition of tying fabric to trees with prayers or wishes.  I wanted to continue this tradition by asking members of the community to come share a line or image about the garden that they remember on one side of a tag designed with NYRP, and on the other side, a line or image with a wish they have for the garden or themselves in the garden.  

These tags were tied to the tree in such a way as not to damage the tree, and then left until they decay (or the end of the gardening season).