Short, strange, underemployed, gentle soul..

“2003 was bad.
Bad for business. Bad for love.
I made the decision to change my love criteria. This time I was on the look out for :
-short
-strange,
-underemployed
but gentle souls who were nifty in the garden.
When he moved house, I helped, of course.
When he couldn’t fit the ficus in the new flat, I helped by taking it to my house.
“A WEED!” someone exclaimed.
“A PEST!” someone else.
I moved house a year later. Nowhere for the ficus. I left it behind.
Not long after, I noticed the short, strange, underemployed, gentle soul was still around.
I left him behind.
I moved house again. I changed partner again.
I left them behind.
One day the ficus came back. It had burst its pot in an attempt to escape.
I repotted it and thought of the short, strange, underemployed, gentle soul. At least he was consistent.
The ficus was consistent. It didn’t get impatient. It didn’t crave change.
It now sits behind the glass, here, between Tracks 3 and 8. It is sheltered from the wind (which it never really liked very much).
Rootbound, but still going.
We have a lot in common, the ficus and me.”

Steve, Redfern

Lisa’s workmate

“This one started from a street plant cutting, which I used in an artwork in 2004. Then I planted it up & it came to keep me company in the library where I work at Sydney Uni – each year it has sat on a sunny windowsill on a different floor in Fisher Library. When I went overseas for a while my work friend looked after it in the jungle of plants around her desk. This year it wasn’t looking good so it’s been re-potted & now lives in the sun on the desk in my studio.”

Lisa, Petersham