Early September of last year, when I moved to Oxford and settled myself into a family as their tenant, a new garden was waiting for me. The family had just built a new house and the garden needed to emerge. I was invited into a co-creative process, shaped by the family’s needs, as well as my gardening sensibility. Through an interactive dialogue between family, friends and myself, and with the garden itself - we did not just grow a garden, we co-created an enlivening space together.

 

Our social interactions are expressed in the new garden itself: it is a new space full of life where humans can explore their experiences in gardening, but also their understanding of their place on this planet. The garden became a living laboratory, where, through rich social relationships, I explored and discovered how to interact with people, how to be open and look for responses in line with deep human needs. I see giving birth to a garden as a mirror of giving birth to a family. This garden was born out of constant reflection and human sociability. Gardens can play an important role in developing human and social identity.Gardens are spaces for creativity and connection. They are dynamic territory of self-discovery that teach us to live and integrate with life. 

 

 

 

Can you relate to your own life as you would relate to a garden? 

 

 

Is your garden a metaphor for your life?