The Garden's conceptstems from the image of a tree burnt by a lightning strike, copied from a medieval manuscript dated c. 1430. The manuscript recounted the story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. The artist also recreates bits from illustrations by Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th-century nun and proto-feminist. Gothic shapes of the sculptures convey the fragility and morbidity of female nature. The red colour of the walls intensifies the feelings of agony and tension. The installation space imitates an altar, which every visitor without exception is invited to step into.
The curse that was put on Eve in the Book of Genesis becomes the first mention of a woman's communion with Satan and of her accusation for the humans' expulsion from Paradise. The Garden's narrative brings the repressed woman back from her 'eternal exile to the Dark Continent', perceived as an inculcated fear of the dark, instilled from an early age and internalised.
According to Hélène Cixous, 'The Dark Continent is neither dark nor unexplorable. It is still unexplored only because we've been made to believe that it was too dark to be explorable.'
Through examining medieval artefacts in detail, the artist reimagines the concepts of witchcraft and sorcery as protoforms of an anti-capitalist rebellion and a symbolic protest against patriarchy and its power. By delving into various aspects of maternal duties, crossed out and wiped out cultural codes, the artist puts together her own artistic practice and develops strategies to resist the spiralling structures of capitalism.