Chris Hagan, 'Totem'

I’ve passed this tree a few times, it stands by the walkway outside St Marks church near oval tube station, I’ve taken this route several times on the way to dropping work off to galleries on my trip to the capital. It seems to have long left the land of the living, no new shoots and lots of peeling bark. But there is a defiance to this tree, it reaches out, it doesn’t want to be forgotten. The remains of this tree stand as a totem of isolation amongst all the busy goings on of London life and says, remember me, I’m still and I was here long before you.

Chris Hagan is a contemporary visual artist based in East Sussex. Chris began his practice in 2017, producing abstract figurative and landscape-based works on canvas, paper, and mixed media. His works have been exhibited in the UK and are held in private collections worldwide including Germany, Franc, Spain, the United States, Canada, and Asia.

Found imagery and the stories of the people, places, landscapes and historical events of the North of England, Wales and in particular Ireland from the 1900s onwards often inform elements of his work, connecting the links of his own Irish/Northern English heritage. Exploring through visual means the path of historical modern life through long-standing traditions, folklore and memory.