Sarah Bauman
Lover's Tree
Lover’s Tree is a para-fictional narrative project featuring a short story written by Mailey Horner. Inspired by mythology and the association of couples and designated locations, the project is loosely based on the story of Baucis and Philemon, a couple transformed into a pair of intertwining trees when they die.
The project features real-life lovers who all share a fictional meeting spot: a designated Lover’s Tree under the same weeping willow.
Weeping willows are the first trees to grow leaves in the spring and among the last to shed them in the fall, almost seeming to stand against time. Trees have a perpetual connotation with love; whether it be through the carving of initials into bark or the nursery rhyme about sitting in a tree, (K-I-S-S-I-N-G!) the link seems inextricable.
Lover’s Tree plays on the real and the imagined, interconnecting real-life lovers and the imaginary tree that binds them together.
The project dreams up a past, present, and future for the willow tree and the lovers that flock to it.
Sarah Bauman is a Toronto photographer best known for her analog work on 35mm and 120 film. She often photographs close friends, siblings, or lovers and her images are recognizable from the soft pastel tones used frequently in her work. Themes in her work include relationships, coming of age, memory, and the ephemeral. Her practice ranges from collage, video, and photo.