Arnold Arboretum
Arnold Arboretum, The Arborway, Boston, Massachusetts
I am fascinated by the gestural quality of trees, how their elegant architecture and vegetation are revealed and concealed as the seasons change. Mesmerized by the transformative power of light as it falls across the landscape, the Arnold Arboretum is a steadying force for me in a shifting world.
Although I did not live in these open woods and gently sloping meadows, I did not grow up far from them. The New England landscape is familiar ground for me, even though I have lived on the west coast for 36 years.
I have been photographing the Arnold Arboretum, designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, for many years on my frequent trips to visit my now 92 year old mother. She, like the landscape, is bedrock to which I return, elemental to my east coast roots.
It has been comforting to me to experience the cyclical process in the landscape while at the same time seeing my mom through the prism of the natural world as she moves through these late years of her life. Despite a sadness and recognition of what her aging has meant, I am grateful to have known the continuum, the rhythm, and the grace of how the natural world reflects our own unrelenting evolution.