Margaret’s Garden

“I need to start a garden, I need to start a garden.”* Went round and around in my head as I cleared and dug and turned and toiled. It’s not particularly rewarding to talk about the obvious elements of a garden project: mental health, lockdown, a space in the city, Derek Jarmen, modern nature… But it’s always worth remembering that, alongside activities such as club culture, banqueting, walking, worship and body art, gardens are an art language; a medium with a long tradition and yet neglected in the paint pot and picture world of art education. My garden is an awkward, complex doodle that evolves to challenge me and educate me in my practice. It also gives me something to put on instagram that I actually think worth sharing. The project will be ongoing until 2025 when I may need to move. Some canvases are too large and too delicate to take with you.

The garden project was started from scratch, taking several years just to get some of the larger plants to a point of being bedded in. Now I will begin to reflect on the choices I’ve made, some good, some bad, and record them in documentations of the space. If you’d like to sit in the garden, maybe we can set something up.

*Haley Heynderickx