SEEING BEYOND ALL THAT IS LEAF

Against a ground cover of bark, bristly light-green shoots, buds, and a yellow, sun-drenched flower surround a young butternut squash with the wilted flower still attached. 'A closeup Alice-in-wonderland-perspective', 'the metamorphosis of a butternut squash' or 'the art of growing life forms' would all be relevant descriptions of this photograph. However, how does questioning what we cannot see or even hear within range move the boundaries of our awareness? Does it make a difference to know about the kinds of organisms living on the plant and beyond the bark ground cover? Or the fact that this plant is growing in a planter box built with natural stone? Furthermore, outside the image frame, the distant sound of a waterfall and a wealth of fynbos forms part of a biosphere reserve. The fact that the young butternut became a welcome nibble for a foraging baboon is not yet the end of this story; rather an expanded way to look at ecology.