This short film acts as an introduction to a collaboration I had with poet Christine De Luca, during my time as Artist in Residence at Dr Neil’s Garden in Duddingston and is an attempt to create a distillation of our experience into something easily accessible by others.
We started by simply spending time in the garden, often together, looking and learning.
“The most precious gift we can offer is our attention”
– Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monk
“Attention is the beginning of devotion”
– Mary Oliver, poet
I spent many hours drawing and painting, over many months and in all weathers, while sharing my work with Christine who, almost always, responded with a poem. What ensued is a conversation that includes but which transcends what can be spoken, as we looked deeply and with tender attention into the heart of this one place that has something to tell us about all places, as well as about the world and our place in it.
Deeply focused as we were on the wondrous entanglement all around us, and insulated for a short while from the now overly familiar barrage of news and views, perhaps we found ourselves to be, momentarily, suspended in a state of grace.
“… it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theologian
