Familiar Gardens
Gardening is so much more than growing plants. It is the anticipation of summer, of grass that is greener and a longing for days that are brighter and warmer. It is tending to something outside of ourselves. Through gardening we are searching for answers in the most unlikely places: amongst the salad leaves, or in the greenhouse bursting full of tomatoes.
As the youngest in a family with a history of depression, the garden is a sanctuary that I have only recognised within the past few years. Knowledge of plants has been passed from my Grandad, to my mum and then to me – and it is likely that depression has been passed along the same lineage.
Throughout making this work, I have recorded real and staged moments within our three gardens, using photography as a tool to prise open the subtle ways that gardening affects us as individuals and as a family.
