Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring was inspired by his dream of a virgin dancing herself to death in a pagan ritual of self-sacrifice. The dance, a climax of transitory beauty and death, is demanded by the forces of nature to bring about a change in the seasons, from winter to spring. The ‘little death’ of the cut flower, sacrificed for an ephemeral display of beauty, mirrors this transformative moment of ‘becoming’ and is central to Jyll Bradley’s concerns and her latest project Rite van de lente (Dutch for ‘Rite of Spring).
For over one hundred years west Cornwall provided Britain with a promise of spring through its early crop of flowers. The local trade is now pressurised by imports from the global flower market that is controlled by the Dutch, who grow under glass, so resisting the rhythms of nature. The relative cheapness of aviation fuel compared to that of diesel, compounds the problem, as does the demise of the flower train that once took West Country blooms to urban markets.
On a steep grassy slope at Tremenheere, reached via an ancient pilgrim’s route, a second hand transit van is parked and decorated with garlands of spring flowers, hybridising it into an object of beauty. The van faces east, over-looking St. Michael’s Mount, the traditional direction of pilgrims and migration of local people. The garlands, a west Cornwall tradition include anemones, bluebells, lily of the valley and late daffodils. Crowned with a headdress of strong smelling white lilies, the van represents the spirit of May Day, creating a visual metaphor for the migration of flowers and their cultures and communicating what the Romantic poet William Blake called the ‘two contrary states of the human soul’. After May Day, and the garlands transient display, the work will be undressed and transformed back into a van in a process of circularity.
The ‘Flower Power’ movement of the hippies, with its closeness to nature and resistance to Western Capitalism, is amongst Rite van de lente’s influences. The work can also be understood as heir to the Romantic movement. The Romantics regarded themselves as inspired facilitators, enabling others to see familiar things in a new way. Revolution, Nature and Transcendence were at the very heart of it, as they are in Bradley’s projects.