Designed for the 18th-century Chapel in the grounds of YSP, this new sculpture is woven in sustainable Somerset willow and responds to the building’s architecture, with its dense and abstract form growing within and around the features of the space.
Seeming to take hold of the room, Into Being encroaches six metres into the nave of the Chapel and climbs three metres up the wall. It embodies forms found in the natural world such as cocoons, burrows and seed pods, and visitors can stand within its embracing folds surrounded by the intricate and powerful details of the structure.
Bacon primarily works alone and is constructing the sculpture from scratch at YSP over eight weeks, using willow to “draw” into the surrounding space. She is using branches from fallen beech trees at YSP to form part of the skeleton of the self-supporting structure that, through its material and form, conjures up a primal instinct to nest and reconnect with the natural world.
For this YSP display, Bacon will use around 80 bundles of Somerset willow called Dicky Meadows, chosen for its particularly slender and straight stem, which helps her ‘draw’ strong and smooth lines in the space. Native to the UK, willow is a sustainable material that exists in harmony with the natural world. At the end of the exhibition, the sculpture will be dismantled and the material reused in the landscape to create wildlife habitats.
Alongside her strong affiliation with organic growth, Bacon is also inspired by her father’s architectural drawings, introducing the energy and unpredictability of natural environments into interior spaces with careful consideration.