“Part word, part picture, Il Giardino di Olindo conjures the narrative of a neglected genre: aesthetic impulses bring the strategies of literature, lyricism, poetry, and incisive description into the medium of photography, or better, onto the flat glass of a photocopying machine. A fig leaf, shrivelled cucumbers, the broad blade of a hand tool, washers and hose connectors – through light, heat, chemicals and electrostatic charges, we are offered a glimpse of a gardener’s life: the plants, weeds, bugs, birds, and soil, that imbricate life in a series of daily routines and struggles. A pensive and beautiful homage to a form of horticultural quietism in precarious times.”
— Emilia Terracciano, author of Art and Emergency: Modernism in Twentieth Century India
“Memories, associations, and knowledge from earth covered hands grow like sprouts and roots, connecting and burrowing deep. Il Giardino di Olindo offers a glimpse into a long and changing aliveness.”
— Thalia Alington-Wood, The Warburg Institute, London
“This delicate book is true to its subject: the mysterious life of plants and how humans can (try to) negotiate with them and their associated creatures.”
— Judy Annear, author of soundings
Texts by Tom Melick & Simryn Gill
Images by Olindo Polo, Tom Melick, Anna Polo, Tom Polo & Simryn Gill
Design by Ruud Ruttens, Ghent
September 2023
80 pp., 210 × 155 mm, softcover
68 black-and-white images
ISBN 978-0-6453840-6-2
$30.00