IN AN ORIGINAL RITUAL PERFORMED IN A WETLANDS NATURE PRESERVE, TWO ARTISTS MAKE POWERFUL, SYMBOLIC CONNECTIONS WITH THE EARTH

Published on June 29, 2025

From southeastern England, Cathy Ward, brutjournal’s London-based artist-correspondent, reports:

TWO TREE ISLAND, ESSEX, ENGLAND — It is said that there is history in the islands to which women escaped in past centuries to find safety and refuge. For example, the islands of Scotland, which some women saw as attractive places where they could hide and survive. 

Located in the Thames Estuary, about 40 miles east of London, Two Tree Island is a 630-acre nature reserve situated off Leigh-on-Sea. This salt marsh wilderness is a popular destination for bird watchers and hikers. In the 18th century, this area was reclaimed from the sea; a seawall was erected around the salt marsh, and the land was used for farming and as grazing room for livestock. Today, with its gently undulating, green surfaces dotted with shrubs and occasional trees, Two Tree Island is a haven for birds and wildlife.

Earlier this year, I traveled to this remote place, where I was guided by Jane Woollatt (Instagram: @woollattjaneart) and Beverley Carruthers (Instagram: @beverleycarruthers), two women who, for more than four decades, have enjoyed a close friendship and who regard themselves as Two Tree Island’s guardians. This outlook isn’t about land ownership, per se; instead, as artists, Jane and Beverley refer to and use the island in their performance-oriented works as a metaphor for the physicality of a woman’s menstrual cycle, alluding, for example, to when such a period comes to an end, and, figuratively and physically, a new lease on life begins.