BETULA PENDULA. (SILVER BIRCH). 1977.

Dunsyre: Wild Hawthorn Press, 1977
11.5 x 13.5cm, 2pp. The first of three cards which display a drawing (here by Gary Hincks) of an armoured tracked weapon from the second world war – this appears to be a US M7 Priest (from the double barrel) and it is camouflaged by the addition of tree branches on the sides (which one presumes are from birch trees). The birch is a tree that only grows from the East of Europe to the West but not South at all unless at high altitude (the tree does not like hot weather). This card reminds one – as with the other similar works – that even in the beauty of the countryside lurks death. As such it is a momento mori and not the first or last such work in Finlay’s oeuvre. VG+.