Behind and Beyond
As part of my 2023 Artist in Residence events at Darts Hill Garden, Words, Behind and Beyond grew from a desire to help visitors enter into a more intimate relationship with the many lives of the garden—particularly what I affectionately think of as the rooted ones, both cultivated and wild.
I wanted to offer many different ways of meeting a place. Writing, touch, scent, movement, listening, plant knowledge, guided visualization, Chi Kung-informed meditation, and geopoetics all became possible doorways into noticing more deeply.
At the artist station, visitors could explore some of the remarkable relationships held within plants: those used by humans for food, simple medicine, fibre, natural dyes and other purposes, alongside plants that provide food, shelter and habitat for birds, butterflies, bees and other beings. I was interested in moving beyond simply identifying a plant and toward wondering about the many lives and relationships gathered around it.
Whenever natural plant material was used, it came from material already pruned or removed by Darts Hill garden staff. Leaves, bark and other forms could then be examined closely, touched, smelled, used for rubbings, or incorporated into creative activities. The invitation was always to work with the garden, not take from it.
Visitors could also wander more quietly. Self-guided sensory walks invited people to notice what changed when they slowed down and experienced the garden not only through sight, but through sound, touch, scent, imagination and attention. At scheduled times, I offered guided experiences involving meditation, movement, listening and sounding, plant walks, and opportunities to explore our relationship with the land and the other lives around us.
Underlying all of these approaches was a question I keep returning to: What becomes possible when we stop moving through a garden as observers and begin entering into relationship with it?
The Web That Connects
One of the central participatory artworks invited garden visitors to write on dried laurel leaves. People were invited to write a word, phrase, or sentence about their connection to nature, or simply how being in the garden made them feel. The leaves were then tied into a large, dreamcatcher-like web made from natural materials, gradually becoming a collaborative artwork reflecting the interconnectedness of life.
More than 92 people took part in the experience, each adding something of their own relationship with the natural world to the growing web.
But the words did not end there.
Using almost entirely the contributions offered by garden visitors, I gathered their words into a free-form poem, adding only a few small connective words of my own. The resulting poem carried the wonderful diversity of the people who had contributed to it, sometimes meditative and spiritual, sometimes playful, sometimes unexpectedly funny.
What stayed with me most was the care people brought to those small leaves: the thoughtfulness, enthusiasm, and heart behind each contribution.
The visitors supplied the words. The garden held the gathering. And somewhere between them, a shared poem emerged. It became another reminder of the quiet thread of nature that connects us all.
And because the materials were natural, the work itself could eventually return to the earth.
When the Web Became a Poem
Kalea means Happiness and Joy in Hawaiian.
Swimming, Walking, Running, Sunshine,
Walking the Beach with Diana
At Home, A Human
Fresh air and the smell of trees, flowers and Nature
Brings Peace, Calmness, Tranquility
Tangled Tree Awakening
Routes through Roots
Grandmother Waterfall
Forever nourishing Love, Enriching Life,
Animals, Stars, Rivers, Mountains
Natures Strange and Abundant Variety
Floating Adrift, Landing Lightly
Everything in Nature looks random,
But it is exactly what Nature is,
Random but in Order.
Enthralling, Inspired, Spirituality.
See, Smell, Hear, Taste, Feel.
Remember Where You Are
The Garden Helps Me to Breathe Deep
Grounding, Cleansing, Healing, Rejuvenating
Oxygen; Settled Peaceful Breath.
Inhale Nature, Exhale Gratitude
Nature; Gods Brilliant Silence;
Sacred Trees, Freshwater Creek, Respecting Change.
Cycle of Seasons, Cycle Within, Cycle of Life.
Leaf. Purity. Simplicity. Love It.
Nature is the ultimate divine expression of Love
I feel exuberant; I feel myself when I am in Nature
And Ahhh the stars, when I look up at the stars,
It reminds me; while I am stargazing,
Someone else is looking up at the same sky,
While I watch the sunset,
someone else somewhere is watching the sun rise.
Nature is the true home of us all. Tranquility at its best,
By Healing Nature, we heal ourselves.
Birth, Growth, Return, Rejuvenation
I feel close to God(dess) when I am in Nature
Alive as One, Nature Heals all Stress
With inner connection,
When disintegration brings you home,
Variegated forest hummingbirds
Hope you have a good day.
