Charlene Liu and the Brambles

Charlene Liu has an upcoming show at the gallery next month. While looking the the jpegs arriving from Eugene, I'm reminded of the word bramble.

Brambles are thorny plants of the genus Rubus, in the rose family (Rosaceae). Bramble fruit is the fruit of any such plant, including the blackberry and raspberry. The word comes from Germanic *bram-bezi, whence also German Brombeere and French framboise. In popular UK usage the term primarily refers to the blackberry bush; in Scotland and the north of England it refers to both the blackberry bush and its fruits.

Back in the day at UC Santa Cruz, I recall a conversation I had with my photo teacher Norman Locks. He had a love for the "brambles" he encountered in nature, the twisty thickets of undergrowth that people so easily overlook. They are the thorny bushes that usually scratch at your arms as you make your way towards the majestic overlook point that a nature trail usually leads to. I remember his number one complaint of a trip to the Rockies in Colorado was that it lacked the brambles that so inspired him in the Sierra Nevada in California.

Charlene Liu celebrates brambles in a way that I think Norman would appreciate. If It Were a Slow Echo opens November 7th at Taylor De Cordoba.