Tres arbres i tretze fruites, Laura Palau (Vallat)

CONFLUÈNCIES. Artistic interventions in the towns of Route 99

With the support of the town’s farmers led by women, who are the ones who work in the home, we went to look for those local trees of resilience that were gradually being lost. Following the work of Connecta Natura to preserve these roots, we start to gather sticks from the perelloter, from the pera agra and pera cristal·lina, from the poma roja and from the morro de llebre, from the bresquilla xurreta and from the molla blanca… With the aim of constructing a live reservoir in the town, within the residents’ reach.

Using the technique of grafting, we introduced cuttings of native varieties which, with a sense of survival, cling to the parent tree. Grafting enables us to introduce the past into the present, reviving it and projecting it into the future. Chip bud grafting, scion grafting, crown grafting, eye grafting… Three trees and thirteen fruit tree varieties which, from the same branch and over time, will sprout almonds, peaches and apricots. To the left of the peach tree and centered in the middle of the terrace, you will be able to pick lemons, mandarins, oranges and grapefruit, for those who love the bitter taste. And when the cold comes, the quince tree will bring us apples and pears for over winter.

You can download here all the information about my intervention.

Laura Palau (Benlloc, 1993) uses photography, performance and play to remedy the habits and practices that oppress us in the public space. Brought up with the values of agriculture and ecology, she works with the help of this logic, of the countryside, to separate the superficial from the useful, to cultivate patience and locate the north. Presenting a subtle exercise which is incorporated as another incident in the constellation of images that surround us.