The Garden and the Picture of it

'Pictures of gardens are everywhere. On our screens, in books and magazines, curated for the best angle at the best moment. The image has replaced the thing itself. At the same time, our attention has become scattered, so that the picture has become just one of many.

This session takes that problem seriously.

We begin on the street outside the Botanic Garden - in the noise of traffic and shops, where we will spend time with the civilisational problem of abstraction - how information and pictures take us further from nature rather than closer to it.

Then we move into the garden.

Working with specific plants and places through slow looking and simple making practices, we test what happens at the boundary between urban and 'nature'. What changes when we pay attention to something for long enough that it reveals more about itself and us, than a picture ever could?

The session moves deliberately between two ways of thinking and seeing - a deliberately argued account of why the picture has become all we see, and then direct engagement with what is actually there. The argument scaffolds the experience. The experience grounds the argument.

This is not a mindfulness walk. It is a guided encounter with a specific question, held in a specific place.

Paul Sewter holds a Masters of Fine Art (dist.), a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Therapy, and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, and has trained in horticulture, apiculture and sustainability. He is the founder and custodian of Anti-Abstractionism, a philosophical practice developed over twenty-five years.

Suitable for adults with an interest in gardens, philosophy, or attention - or any combination of the three. No prior knowledge required. Duration: 60-90 minutes.'