Peace Journal

This project, Peace Journal imagines discovering a deeper understanding of peace through the ephemeral gardens at the home of Claude Monet. The plan centers on insights gleaned from experiencing the garden and engaging with the gardeners who cultivate its growth. The project germinated as I was making work in the gardens and the idea evolved as I researched Monet and his donation of paintings as a gesture of peace after World War I. For the last two years, I was fortunate to work extensively in Giverny, France – first as a Terra Foundation for American Art Fellow and then as the Munn Artist-in-Residence supported by Monet House and the Versailles Foundation. As I became acquainted with the garden, my work focused on the pace of the water garden: the tempo of the near still landscape seems to breathe. Photography projects are often described with violent words like capture, shoot, and grab. The key words in this project are gentle, slow, and breathing. Bresson made famous the notion of “a decisive moment”. Similar to Bresson’s description of photography, observation is paramount in my proposal, but the difference here is the quest for decisive slowness in subject and practice. Peace can feel impossible and fragile. This work draws upon the life of the garden and of the wisdom of the gardeners as they cultivate a living, breathing laboratory of vibrant color and open us to explore the question: What conditions are necessary for peace to grow?