Family. Life.

Garden of Remembrance

Aaron Bell

Belfast School of Art, Ulster University

This series takes an alternative look at the idea of family, looking at the relationship between plants and humans. They make life possible on earth. They produce the very oxygen which we breathe. Without them we would be lost. This makes it all the more interesting that many people choose plants to commemorate events, many of which are births and deaths. They can provide comfort for the bereaved. By marking a grave, can there ever truly be death? As the plant grows, it takes on the persona of the life that it marks, becoming the symbol of that life. In birth, a plant represents a person's journey, growing from a seed, becoming rooted, and growing to maturity. I chose to venture into people's gardens in search of these symbolic plants to document how family extends into nature. It cannot be constrained by four walls. It is so much more than that.
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  • Planted to commemorate a wedding anniversary.

  • This plant was brought from a previous home as a souvenir from the first house they ever owned.

  • This plant belonged to a gentleman's mother. He now has it in his home to help him remember her after her passing.

  • Planted to mark the birth of a daughter.

  • Planted to commemorate the passing of a mother.

  • Planted to mark the passing of a wife.

  • Planted to mark the birth of a daughter.

  • Planted to mark the death of a husband, planted by his wife.

  • Planted to commemorate the passing of a husband.

  • Planted to mark the birth of a son.

  • Taken from a mother's house following her death, and replanted in her son's garden.

  • Planted by my parents to commemorate my birth.

  • Planted to commemorate the birth of a son.

  • Planted to mark the death of a wife.

  • Planted to mark the death of a daughter.

  • Planted to mark a marriage.

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