(G2)
24-01-2025
The garden I Leave behind
I began to think about the garden I will leave behind when I die after seeing a window display in the streets of Paris. A large, cold scene showcasing two granite tombstones surrounded by plastic flowers and artificial grass. It made sense - it was a sales exhibition, after all - but it also reminded me of how graveyards often look today. Flowers replaced seasonally, well-tended surfaces and an overall aesthetic that feels both unsustainable and detached from nature's own rhythms. The thought of ending up under a massive granite slab surrounded by neatly trimmed lawns made me sad.
The next day I came across Modern Nature by Derek Jarman, the visionary filmmaker and painter. Jarman not only left behind a series of stunning works - he also left behind a garden. On England's desolate, windswept Dungeness, where shingle, sea and sky collide, he created a garden as raw and poetic as his art. In the last years of his life, while living with HIV, he transformed the land around his spartan home, Prospect Cottage, into a personal oasis. The book documents these years - a biographical diary of struggle, fragility and the beauty found in the smallest of things.
Jarman's garden was more than plants in stone. For me, it is a reflection on the cycle of life and a testament to the idea that if we dare to be vulnerable and invest care and love in what we leave behind, it is likely to be cared for in the hands of others in the future. Many of us will one day be given a small piece of land as our final place in the world. But how can we make this more than a formality? How can we give it meaning?
Jarman's garden reminds us that even the smallest plot of land can become a stage for creation, a comfort for the living, and an ongoing story of who we were. Perhaps we should think of our last plot of land as a garden - a place where we can plant something beautiful, something that lasts beyond ourselves. Updating my will has now found its way onto my to-do list.
Victor,
second.garden
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