My Journey This project has helped me with a journey of personal discovery and exploration that I committed to about 2 years ago. Over the last few years I have actually used illustration and gardening as a therapy, my drawings were good visual and tangible demonstrations of the process I was going through and the issues I wanted to shed. They helped me express myself, as I have always struggled with the written and spoken word as a form of expression. The gardening itself as a form of therapy was suggested to me as the effect of nurturing and growing something, and watching it develop from your input helps with a number of issues. So this brief was of interest to me instantly, combining the creative, craft skills I find so therapeutic with the self-analysis, especially the investigation into fears, inhibitions and dreams. The later of which I am naturally disposed to spending less time on.
I have given dimension to my ambitions in my garden, which I feel demonstrates my journey; it has helped me formalise my previous subconscious and conscious thoughts.
It embodies progression, aspirations, the unknown, the shedding of fears going forward, willingness to try; the possibilities and opportunities that might then open up.
My journey starts in winter, a phase and period of my life that felt like it would last forever. I couldn't grow, flourish
or blossom; I put mental blocks in front of my development. I was very negative about everything, going through periods of despair that consumed energy but produced nothing. In a way this season represents my comfort zone, the smell of cinnamon and cloves in my garden demonstrates this comfortable/cosy nature of winter, as this place was for years my comfort zone.
Once I resolved to change my life and chose believe things could be better for me, I felt like things weren't quite as bad, I didn't progress into spring, but instead feel like I fell back into autumn, into a slightly less harsh environment, a period of shedding rather than growth. This part of the journey is where I see myself now, an obstacle course, there are
hoops I have to jump through to continue on my journey, but there will be times where I fall back. I feel it is definitely a case of 3 steps forward and 2 steps back.
I hope committing to work on myself will mean I start growing, there will be steep periods of growth and progression, they will take a lot out of me, but then plateaux's where I rest and contemplate, I can look to the future, but not quite
touch it. I know there will be occasions where I fall back down. However, spring will come and there will be a point where the green shoots push through, the trees will start to blossom, until I can really believe in myself and value my talents and strengths.
Eventually my path should lead me to a full flourishing garden, my summer. Where my hopes and aspirations become reality. Once I have completed this journey once, I will know the way, and so each time I fall down, picking myself up will become easier.
A book is a garden carried in a pocket
Gardens The container garden, Nigel Colborn, 1992
‘Paradise is usually portrayed as a garden…the task of every good gardener is to make her, or his, patch of soil into an earthly paradise.’
Flowers The colour garden (yellow), Elvin McDonald, 1997
‘Yellow is the first hue of early spring… it excites rather than providing a place of comfort and repose.’
‘It is associated with loyalty and honour.’
Personal Development The work we were born to do, Find the work you love, love the work you do, Nick Williams, 1999
‘To experience love, live a loving and love-filled life; to experience joy and creativity, live a joyous and creative life… there is no place or destination; we are on a journey of growing awareness…’
Small things Little people in the city, The street art of Slinkachu, Will Self, 2008
‘The intrinsic value of a small scale model is that it compensates for the renunciation of sensible dimensions by the acquisition of intelligible dimensions’
‘Human domination and submission, leading to individual alienation.’
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