Laura Skehan

Tecnica: Photo

Anno: 2024

Dimensione: 90 x 60 cm

Descrizione: In 2024, I spent time working in the community garden at Moabit Stadtgarten city park while I was an artist in residence at ZK/U, Centre for Art and Urbanistics in Berlin.

I observed the changes of light, the flowering of the plants and the fruit that followed , the insects and the creatures that explored this urban meadow, the wanted plants and the weeds, all eventually to decay when the winter would came.

This cycle became symbolic and an opportunity to be reflective. The garden asking nothing of me, but to witness and to loose myself in thought. An opportunity to remember. I wrote constantly that summer. What presented in my scribbled notes were resolutions around missed opportunities, unfollowed dreams, first kisses, a longing for something (not quite sure what though), a fear of self-acceptance, resistance through joy and sharing, a recognition of the time passing, moments of boredom and of bliss. The stories and histories that were embedded with each plant, a shared mumbled moment in time.

The hope of spring, the fruitful summer, the abundance of the harvest and a reflective period in Autumn to prepare for the long winter nights, hibernating, protecting… only to begin again.

This work featured in the final exhibition INTERZONE at ZK/U, an exhibition exploring the parallels within culture and the diversity of the queer community and biodiversity of urban green space, particularly the contested spaces of community gardens as places of growth, memory and resistance.