Meet Me In The Garden is an ongoing art project featuring artists Claire Billie Bushby, W. Sze Tsang, and Mark Wahlsten. The focal points of this project are suburban gardens in Western Australia, through which we examine the connections between gardeners, plants, and the local ecology. Through this, suburban gardens teach us to appreciate and value the Earth and our interconnectedness with every aspect of it. Meet Me in the Garden invites participants and viewers to consider the complexities and entanglements of living in a time of climate crises, seeking to create hopeful dialogue and connection among community members by emphasising shared care and responsibility for the environment.
This sense of shared care often begins in our backyards, where we plant, water, and nurture. The suburban backyard serves as a sanctuary, allowing gardeners a safe place to slow down. It offers space for providing for both themselves and those around them – human and non-human. The garden – in whatever size and configuration – gives citizens the agency to reshape their cities by planting for native insects and animals, or fruit and vegetables to swap amongst local community members. Through this, suburban gardens teach us to appreciate and value the Earth and our interconnectedness with every aspect of it.
Meet Me In The Garden is a community-driven project that allows individuals to share their unique and diverse experiences of suburban gardens and nature reserves. It highlights the mental health benefits of gardening and the creativity involved. Meet Me In The Garden intends to foster a sense of community and interconnection through sound, print, sculpture, and video artwork based on material collected during garden visits and interviews with gardeners. It offers new and intriguing perspectives while honouring the stories told by the gardener participants.
The initial phase of this project was run through Spaced WA’s Know Thy Neighbour #3 program in 2021. This program invited artists to work with community members to ask how we can meaningfully engage in the making of our cities. Seven suburban gardeners with five gardens participated in this phase by hosting interviews, giving walking tours of their gardens, and sharing their experiences. Their engagements were documented through audio interviews, photographs, and journals given to the gardeners for reflection over three months.
Meet Me in the Garden is intended to instigate hope in times of trouble. It creates a dialogue about how communities can live together meaningfully and with care in the suburbs of Western Australia.
– Claire Billie Bushby and W. Sze Tsang