Erica Lüttich
Erica Lüttich is a founder member of Site_Specific. Erica’s sense of finding the creative, developing the positive and keen interest in story telling gives her a sense of energy and urgency that is contagious and positive.
Hundred Years, Hundred more...
The blue gum trees have been declared aliens in South Africa and although we imported, planted and nurtured them for decades, we have now decided that we must destroy them because they are invaders that use too much water. I selected twelve of these so-called invader trees at the St Peters Anglican Church and wrapped them in red fabric with orange words and symbols exploring the sense of time, the years that they have been a landmark on this site. This questions the sense of denying a cultural heritage which we would do well to remember. Instead of preventing a recurrence of labeling and separation, we are recreating new cleansing rules and destroying the trees by ring-barking them, cutting off the nurturing that they need to survive.
I aim to highlight the discrepancies between the foreign, which has been naturalised (such as the church and other imported cultural elements) to the foreign, which has been alienated (such as the trees). Who are we to lay down this judgment and so cruelly ignore the value we once saw and applauded in the blue gum trees?
The title is from a song called ‘Woman King’ by Iron and Wine 2004.
'Hunderd Years, Hundred more…' by Erica Lüttich is an installation dedicated to Blue Gum trees that were brought in from Australia, and have since been declared an alien species listed for eradication due to their 'water hungry' status.
Another project that Erica Lüttich, the Boitumelo Sewing Project, and the Plettenberg Bay Community participated in involved sewing their own flags to display at the main Plettenberg Bay beach as the Portuguese, Dutch, and British had done during the colonial period. Erica's flag, named '18 October', called for peace between Israel and Palenstine.
Joost Voelker walking Erica Lüttich's '18th of October' flag, a project calling for peace between Israel and Palestine. Photo by Elizabeth Olivier-Kahlau.