A mortal daffodil seen whilst out walking one dark spring day; its resemblance to the Affodil of my imaginings causing me to pause. I felt, in my encounter with it, at the threshold of this world and the Otherworld.

Installation of some elements from 48 Summers

Shadow Concept: A ritual to bring the Sun
Fragile Protocols: A five year ritual
Everyday Rituals: Watching the growth and decay of daffodils
Grid of 48 digital photographs (b/w)
Grid of 36 digital photographs (colour)
12 dried daffodil flowers/ seed heads
12 dried daffodil flowers on paper
Set of rosary beads; papier mache, dried daffodils/seeds*
Life in the seed heads (video)
48 daffodil bulbs

It felt almost cruel: the vibrant sounds of life in those seed heads. The cat caught a mouse, and the child cried out ‘it’s still alive’.

For a long time, even the thought of new life was too much. A glint, then, placing each one of these 48 daffodil bulbs in the darkest matter.

Year 1
In the first year afterwards, I buy a bunch of cut daffodils and arrange them in a vase. I sense the shadow; the Affodil of the Elysian Fields. I notice the daffodil's gradual transformation to decay and death.

The pale, deathless Affodil that overruns the Elysian fields of Hades. A favourite food of the dead, Affodils are almost invisible and unknowable to the living. In the mortal world it finds approximate form as the vivid yellow daffodil that erupts and decays each spring.

48 Summers, 2012-2017