Dandelion by Jane Domingos
Video
Much of Spring 2020 was spent laying in the garden convalescing. Nature appeared hyper real; amplified by the exceptional situation.
As the awfulness of a pandemic swept around the world claiming lives, nature burst forth seeming more abundant than ever. I was two months into being formally terminally ill. An awful prognosis that - in gaming terminology - took me to another level. A whole new world unlocked before me and I was experiencing things from a whole
new perspective. Not only confined to home by lockdown but also restricted by compromised bones - I spent a lot of time laying in the garden swathed in white cotton sheets to protect me from the sun. I would lie - very still by necessity - looking from the slit between the top of the sheet and the brim of my sunhat and watch. There was no man made sound pollution, only a cacophony of birds and insects and the trickle of water.
The Dandelion is strongly associated with hope, optimism, making wishes, nostalgic childhood memories and is often used to symbolise a letting go of the past. As I observed them from this very particular time in history and in my life, what they have come to symbolise resonated strongly. These brief moments captured as video on my phone spoke volumes, showing simultaneously the fragility and the endurance of the natural world.
Ref: #009
