Two Burning Bushes (2003)
super 35mm film to digital transfer, 3.30 mins
Commissioned by Manchester City Art Gallery.

Then Jehovah's angel appeared to him in a flame of fire in the midst of a thornbush. As he kept looking, why, here the thornbush was burning with the fire and yet the thornbush was not consumed.
(Exodus 3:2, New World testament Translation of the Holy Scriptures)

Two Burning Bushes is a film work shot on location in Trafford Park, Manchester. It consists of two thorn bushes appearing to burn with a flame that does not consume them.

The burning bush as a manifestation of the Godhead represents not only monotheist religion in general but also the principle of 'truth' itself. In presenting this image as a pairing the work opens up a discursive and philosophical space for the viewer which may be a better description of the status of truth in our own culture. The image engages with our learnt patterns of understanding as constituted through the paradigms of singularity (truth, the One God) and duality (mutual opposition or dialectics). Furthermore the work grew out of an understanding of the social and cultural situation within a multifaith society where forms of devout belief and secular indifference constitute the religious mix of British cities and towns.