I haven't bothered with a Christmas tree this year seeing as my pokey apartment just can't accomodate it, and if I can't have a ma-hussive tree that smacks of grandeur, I'm not about to install a sad pathetic little one in its place.

Instead, I'll just wander to the V&A and gawp at the tree in the main atrium created and designed by Boudicca.  No baubles or tinsle going on here.  A majestic, well proportioned tall fir tree adorned by a single doll peering down from the top of the tree with a fantastically long trailing ribbon hanging down to the floor.  The tree itself is not just a visual experience as it comes complete with sound and scent (provided by Escentric Molecules - one of my FAVE scents!)   

'A tree, a tale, a moment.  A moral myth.  A virtual forest, sometime in winter.' 

The thing I really love about Boudicca's work is the historical references that they often provide as a justification of the origins of their ideas.  For somebody who is obsessed with contexual explanation, these silent film clips of two versions of the Danish fairy tale The Little Match Girl explains the inspiration behind the doll perching on top of the tree with the matches in her hand and what the vision of the tree meant to the girl who saw it when she lit her third match.

La Petite Marchande D'allumettes 1928 by Jean Renoir // The Little Match Seller 1902 by James Williamson

The construction of the tree and the results...