Emma K. Thomas

Keep is a spiral walkway made of coppiced hazel poles to create a fence, rising from below the eyeline at the entrance, to a height of 2m60 at the centre. On entering, there is a clear view over the poles, but one is gradually cut off as one enters deeper, seeing only glimpses of the world outside. At the centre there is a bench to sit on. Sound and sky become more prominent. The work was created in the garden of Københavns Højskoleforening, in Vanløse, in the west of Copenhagen, a garden which is actively managed to promote biodiversity.

The name ‘Keep’ is a reference to the innermost sanctum of medieval motte and bailey castles, where there was a need to keep an aggressor out. The word can also be used in the sense of withholding, as in the expression ‘to keep things to oneself.’ My work often revolves around ideas of secrecy, shame, and the division between our public and private selves. The construction also signals towards fences and land in a broader political sense; of inclusion and exclusion, against a climate of growing insular nationalism.

The experience of making House of Cards, nearly a decade ago, taught me to think about the onward life of an installation beyond the exhibition period. Like most people I am much more concerned now about considering the environmental impact of my work, and the materials I use are part of that. Hazel has a low carbon footprint, being a fast-growing species, and requiring minimal energy consumption in its processing. The installation can be dismantled and reinstalled, or the poles can be reused for other purposes. In using the coppicing technique, I tread in the footprints of my forebears who would have used hazel for fencing in agricultural production.