I saw a tree bearing stones
in the place of apples and pears

I saw a tree
bearing stones in the place of apples and pears
branches bending under the heavy weight
I saw a tree
bearing stones in the place of peaches and plums
I thought how heavy it must feel
to carry fruits so dead
so dense with matter and doubt
and yet,
so wonderful

In the Catholic church there are three classes of relics. The first class is body parts of a saint.The second class is things that belonged to a saint, objects they have used and surrounded themselves with.
The third class relic is the object that touched the body of a saint.
To create the third class relics, the small holes are drilled in the tombs of saints. The objects are lowered through the holes and once they touch the corpse they are no longer everyday and mundane - they become sacred.
A meteorite, before it is diagnosed as one, is a particularly uneventful and unexciting object. It is repeatedly used as a door holder, a field marker or meaningless rock obstructing the path, blending amongst the other rocks and stones that carry no use for humans.
However, once it is identified or speculated that the rock is a visitor from outer space, it takes on a whole new role.
The story transforms it into a cosmic relic, a celestial object carrying stories of distance, sublime and often - religious. It is seen as god, chained to the ground in case it decides to make a return to heavens, celebrated.
But a meteorite carries a different story too, a fantasy of an imminent apocalypse that calls for a single hero. That hero, usually male, saves the planet from complete destruction in the final scenes of a Hollywood production film, triumphantly looking over the burning landscape of a ruined city.

"I saw a tree bearing stones in the place of apples and pears" is an exploration of a meteorite as a carrier of stories, a migratory body, a silent, mysterious visitor, full of projections and dreams of something bigger and more profound than what I know.



“I saw a tree bearing stones
in the place of apples and pears” it´s a work in progress visual and sound research by Emi Martin.

Together with the artist, Thp's curatorial team has created a dummy and is working on tangible forms
- to develop it.