I, Garden, // Garden as Palimpsest - Paperback

by Sydney Kale (Author)

As part of my ongoing doctoral research, I've embarked on a phenomenological study with and about gardens, my garden in particular. I've spent time sitting, writing, and creating with my garden, collecting words and photographs that spoke on behalf of something we shared together: a voice, an idea, and a lifeworld. As the texts and artworks emerged, they felt like they were asking me to do something with them other than put them in a lackluster document. They wanted to be created with, on display in such a way that they could speak authentically, and for their presentation on the page to allow the words and images to converse synergistically and playfully, as they intended. I, Garden, is just that, the raw data from my study, yet to be interrogated, but accessible, vocal, and dialogic. It attempts to ask the question, "What is the essence of the experience of garden?" by asking Garden herself. Garden as Palimpsest is a glimpse into the process of revisiting what we created together by sifting through the compost for the essence of the experience of garden. How does 'garden' happen to you?