I have been raised by a family of architects who’ve taught me to stop and appreciate my surroundings. Not only this, but they have familiarized me with the amount of time and energy that goes into the creation of any kind of detailed
structure, whether it be a skyscraper or a tree. At a young age, my dad taught me how to garden to make sure that I fully understood that great things take time. The moment I put my hands into the earth and felt the soil between my fingers, there was this instant connection that’s never gone away. Gardening has allowed me to see the powerful process of growth and understand more deeply how vital plants and trees are to life. I consider plants to be strong and the growth process to be very powerful because of the amount of time and detail that goes into the birth of each and every plant. It is quite astonishing to me that everything in nature comes from one seed and to this day, I still cannot get over it. In addition to emphasizing how one seed can lead to a whole landscape of plants, my piece, “Purple Petal Landscape,” explores how every part of a plant has a certain purpose in the larger landscape. The landscape is made up of individual plants and every plant is made up of vital elements, such as a small purple petal.
