Modern Nature

Rating:
Summary: The heart of a garden
Review: This book is very much about the garden Derek Jarman cultivated around his cottage in Dungeness, a very inhospitable part of the English coast near a nuclear power station, and how it bloomed and thrived under his care. What I loved about this book was the attention and awareness he brought to the process. I have no outstanding passion for gardening myself, and have long forgotten the names of things, but this book made me remember a time when I was curious and interested, and hadn't succumbed to the consensual trance. For a short time it made me pay attention again. Also, maybe, I was drawing my own metaphors of how we can find joy and beauty in the dark places. Derek Jarman could be very controversial and he pushed the boundaries with his art and film. This book gives an insight into the contemplative side of his nature, a view to his heart. I've been told that the garden has been preserved since his death and continues to be maintained.