O n w a r d

I've been living in the past a lot lately. It started, perhaps, with looking back to find out what had always mattered to me, and reorient myself a bit. Moving onwards is inevitable, but sometimes the past provides answers about the future. Perhaps it was also a little bit about the reality we now live with. We're more careful with our future planning; there's a lot of "let's see" and "fingers crossed" than there was pre-pandemic. For a while, it was too hard to envision anything about the future, even the near future. No wonder then that the past became a refuge. ( And  I've also been working on two personal projects that deal with history.) Sometimes I can't believe that I'm the same person who travelled, had adventures of a sort, that feel like a lifetime ago. Yet I recognise that somehow, I'm living many of the lives I'd hoped for. Not all of them, but that's mostly okay. I do lament the others at times, but I don't th...

Heads turn as I scroll across to the garden. Only a couple of the faces I pass, somewhat hurriedly, are familiar. I wander over to the flowerbeds. How surreal it is to be viewing an exhibition halfway across the world a few days after it has ended. There are activities, videos of what went on behind the scenes, additional resources — far more material than I will actually look at, but I feel strangely reassured that it's there. I'm drawn to botanical art, I've written about it before , and there's something so wholesome about creating an exhibition and events around the contents of a garden. I'm slightly envious of those who get to see it in person. Maybe someday.  Leaves dance, as though lulled by a gentle breeze that I can almost feel, in Angela Mirro's contemporary piece The Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve . Below, Sarah Drake's accurate botanical rendition of Galeandra baueri reminds me of a glorious peacock, a cascade of pink petals flowing downward....

A title that intrigues, that doesn't quite prepare me for what is to come, yet feels just right  Nuance, not ambiguity, in the handling of a serious subject  Elegant turns of phrase, deliberately poetic to make the next point: Is it news? Is it art? Is it someone’s pain?  — “Organized disorder", "backdrops of smoke, fog or falling snow"  Finds a way to reach out through familiarity before presenting the new and unfamiliar  Situates works within history, contemporaneity, criticism, collective consciousness  Asks questions that evoke engagement and wonder  — "Who bought those tomatoes?" "Whose blood is that?"  Holds images, editors, curators accountable, not just the artist  Walks the line between sharing an opinion and leaving room for interpretation  Describes artworks through a perspective, rather than objectively  — "It is a still life, but it is in utter disarray"  Offers space for learning, sources, artworks, contexts ...