Ambush 2

“Hadzi-Vasileva wants to give us the direct experience of going under the earth, encountering the darkness, moisture and narrowness of tunnels running below two mature trees. For some visitors, it may well prove a disturbing, claustrophobic experience. But she does not aim merely at testing our ability to cope with confined spaces. ‘I hope people will react to nature in a different way down there’, she explains. ‘From below, they’ll find a completely different perspective, a different feeling. I see the underworld as another living space that we’re normally unaware of.’ Hence her decision to choose the title Ambush for the work. She wants it to be a surprise, and nothing will prepare the viewers for the sculpture as they approach it aboveground. ‘You won’t see much’, she says, ‘just two glass panels set in the earth and two openings. Then quite suddenly, you’ll see something far below you, straight under your feet.’ Walking down the stairs to a depth of around five metres, visitors will find themselves in a shuttered
concrete tunnel. Hadzi-Vasileva hopes that people choose to go down one by one, for a solitary experience would enable them, ‘to see better and feel the space.’ As they walk along, the root systems of the trees above their heads will come into view, hanging dramatically in front of them. A hidden layer of nature is thereby exposed, and Hadzi-Vasileva would prefer to work with evergreen trees: ‘their roots are a lot bigger and more complicated.’ She is fascinated by the whole idea of ‘something inaccessible becoming accessible’, and likens the tunnels to a womb. In this mysterious subterranean world, riddled with references to ‘myth, birth and growth, underworlds and death’, visitors will find themselves challenged to enter into a relationship with ‘that which is normally unseen.’
Last year in the New Forrest, Hadzi-Vasileva produced the first version of Ambush. It was only open to the public for one month, but the experience gained from this temporary project proved invaluable. ‘I have to be very careful not to kill the roots and damage the trees’, she emphasises, describing how specialist advice must be sought before such a risky venture is undertaken. But she thrives on challenges, admitting that, ‘without them, I find it very hard work.’ But Ambush promises to become her most audacious project so far, and Hadzi-Vasileva looks forward to working with trees ‘on along-term basis’, finding out how Ambush ‘would change and grow, responding to the climate and environment over time.’

JSP catalogue 2001, text by Richard Cork