LAURIE FREITAG 'IN THE GARDEN AT CHISLEHURST'

This work, 'In the Garden at Chislehurst', is my navigation through 2020. My day job is as a nanny & by entering the world of a four-year-old, I was able to escape the pandemic and find a beautiful space in the garden, a reminder that beauty is always here for us, no matter what unfortunate circumstance is around us. It raises the question, do we believe, as Einstein said, Is the universe a friendly place?

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In the Garden at Chislehurst #7826 Laurie Freitag © All rights reserved.

I had forgotten that it was. The news was telling me every day that it wasn't. So many deaths. Every sneeze, every cough, was it the pandemic? Was death closing in? How close could I get to another human? Would this child understand why I was masked, why he couldn't see my smile, why we couldn't hug? What a way to live!

I was lucky to be in a situation where we could be outside in nature and to remember how lucky I was to live in Los Angeles, where we have access to nature most of the 365 days of the year.

The nature and curiosity of a four-year-old child led me into a world of order & harmony, sunshine & flowers. As the child played in the dirt & pretended to make berry pie, I looked up from my low vantage point & saw these dracaenas and captured the bounty of life above me. I leaned close to the stalks of dracaenas & entered another world. - Laurie Freitag