Perennial series is a process artwork documenting a regular nourishment ritual between the artist and a Tagetes lucida plant. Time-lapse photography is utilised for the interaction, along with stream of consciousness note-taking. The artist physically supports the plant to receive nourishment, and this act cultivates a space for meditative-contemplative thought. The focus and attention required to balance the Tagetes lucida elicits a temporal disconnection of the artist from digital communications. The Tagetes lucida thus trains the artist in stillness and meditative-contemplative thinking. Perennial series counters instrumental conceptions of plant-life by inverting the hierarchical relations between the Tagetes lucida, artist and viewer.
This article discusses the planned exhibition of Perennial series where the work attempts a convergence of durations between the Tagetes lucida, the artist and the viewer. The projected time-lapses set up a dialogical relationship between the Tagetes lucida, the artist and the viewer, where movements of the body and meditative-contemplative thought are navigated. The training of viewer movements is examined as an extension of the existing relationship between the artist and the Tagetes lucida. The reflexively drawn conclusions are used to resolve how meaning is embedded, shifts, and builds through the making and viewing of Perennial series.