In October and November 2010 I undertook a residency on Toronto Island, Canada, sponsored by the Irish Arts Council. Works created there were in response to the island itself, its history and landscape. Many of the trees that inhabited the island were quite old and had survived through a time of extreme trauma in 1956, when due to a political development decision the island came under attack with cottages being demolished and trees cut down. The injury and past lives of the trees affected my work heavily, as did exploring the darker side of the human psyche, and fairytales. One fairytale in particular which informed my work is the brothers Grimm story, The Juniper Tree. Also, a theatre production I saw during this time titled The Andersen Project influenced my works, as it explores another tree based fairytale, The Dryad. Both The Juniper Tree and The Dryad are tales that expose the more sinister and mortal sides of the human condition, dwelling on the greed, envy and desire that can inhabit a person. In these two stories, human actions and characteristics become represented spiritually in inanimate objects, in animals, and particularly in trees.