Created as part of my 2023 Artist in Residence events at Darts Hill Garden, Behind and Beyond invited visitors to pause and consider their own relationship with the natural world.

Each participant was given a laurel leaf and 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 her 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.