Creation of a zine about Melancholia and eucalyptus leaves drawings, 2017.

Melancholia
 
For me, melancholia is a transformative experience. It is a temporary depression, an inexplicable sadness that drags you to the bottom of yourself. For a lot of us it is a hard time but, if approached with courage, it could also be regenerating. 
 
Melancholia helps us release stagnant emotions. Comforting it could therefore be a way forward, an opportunity for growth. Knowing that lightness awaits once we resurface, it would be great to find a way to ease those down times and make our path through them a bit smoother. 
 
This is what Imperfect Garden was for me. 
 
For once, I decided to sit with Melancholia. I embraced it. I gave up the fight and went for a walk with it. 
 
At the time of making this work, as an artist, once again, I felt that my creativity has dried out. I felt lost, sad, filled with anxiety. 
One day, whilst reading in the park my eyes were drawn to a pile of dry and sick eucalyptus leaves. Perhaps they were a mirror of a sort. I brought some home with me and started to draw, inspired and comforted by their deformed shapes and cracked patterns. 
It felt good.
And it brought me some ease.
So I kept going, whatever the outcome. 
 
Beautiful decay :
 
By being very attentive to the “ugly” details of the decaying leaves, I have discovered beauty in decay as a part of the cycle of life and creation. Decay leads to regeneration. 
And so could uncomfortable moments of melancholia. If we dare to enter into them with vigor. 

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