I glance down at my camera long enough to switch lenses, and when I look back up, Leh is peacefully examining the leaves on some plants, as if she has suddenly become one with her garden, taking root next to a ladder overflowing with the greenery of plants. As I photograph Leh, she slowly moves around her garden with her green watering can, listening to the needs of each plant before carrying on. Seeing her body relax as she spends time surrounded by plants and growing things, I can see how time spent in her garden is good for Leh's mental health.
Dans le temps que ça me prend pour changer une lentille, Leh commence tranquillement à observer les feuilles de quelques plantes, en union subite avec son jardin. Elle finit par se poser à côté d’une échelle débordant de verdure. En photographiant Leh, j’observe comme elle se déplace avec intention dans son jardin, arrosoir vert à la main, et elle prend le temps de bien écouter les besoins de chaque plante avant de continuer. Son corps se détend au fur et à mesure qu’elle passe du temps avec les plantes et les choses vivantes: je constate la corrélation positive entre le temps passé dans son jardin et sa santé mentale.
In the back garden, Leh gets to work harvesting vegetables. First she works to thin out a planter full of parsley, carefully setting each piece out on a drying tray. Next she moves to a bed of kale to pick some fresh greens for her evening meal. Ultimately some of the vegetables she picks will be used to feed herself while others will be shared, her garden providing food autonomy for folks in her tight-knit queer community. Together we make portraits of her working in her Mile End garden, a space that has been special for her over many years.
Dans le jardin, Leh se met à récolter les légumes. Elle commence avec un pot rempli de persil qu’elle prend le temps de séparer délicatement, faisant bien attention de déposer chaque pièce sur un plateau de séchage. Ensuite elle se déplace vers une jardinière de chou frisé pour y cueillir quelques légumes frais pour son souper. Elle mangera des légumes qu’elle cultive tandis que d’autres seront partagés, son jardin étant capable de desservir des gens de sa petite communauté queer. Ensemble nous créons des portraits d’elle au travail dans son jardin du Mile-End, un espace qui est devenu important pour elle à travers les années.
Here are some extracts from our discussion together about gardens, the utilitarian aspects of gardening, and mental health.
Voici quelques extraits de notre conversation portant sur les jardins, l’aspect utilitaire du jardinage, et la santé mentale.
Selena: What does your garden mean to you? What do you normally do in your garden? Tell me about your space.
Leh: I know that I have a really bad habit of getting really excited about gardening in the spring and especially this year when I was literally locked inside this yard and doing a lot of work in the beginning of the year. And then I get really busy in the summer and going away for a month, or going on tour, or something like that. So it's pretty common that I'll start a really big garden and then leave in July or August and then everything kind of goes bananas. And that definitely happened this year where I did so much garden stuff this spring. And what do I like to do in the garden? I don't know, pull weeds, plant stuff. I really like planning the garden and figuring out which things are going to go together, and starting the seeds.
Selena: What are some things you think about when you're planning your garden each year?
Leh: I think about plants that are happy together. What's going to look nice beside each other. If I'm growing flowers I think about things that bloom at different times so I have continuous blooms throughout the whole season.
Selena: That's such a good idea! I don't have many blooming plants.
Selena: When you enter your garden, what kind of head space do you enter into?
Leh: I think there's kind of this disconnect from growing a garden and then harvesting and eating food in the garden. I grew up on a farm, I grew up working in the garden when I was a kid all day long every day. And it was very much connected to subsistence and providing food for our family. And so I think that while I do appreciate the beauty of the garden, and the peace, and especially during the pandemic of having access to plants and access to dirt was really really meaningful. But there's also this quite utilitarian feeling I have where I'm like, “but oh it's work to provide food so that we can eat. Depending on the time of the year, you know you plant a seed and then it grows.” And every single time I'm like, "What?! How did this happen?! It was like this tiny thing and now it's this huge thing!" And every year that blows my mind so I think there's a lot of wonder and joy in gardening for me. So I think there's both sides of it.
Selena: What's the impact that gardening has on your mental health?
Leh: I think it's really good for me to be able to have access to plants. And especially the feeling of being outside in the context of the pandemic. Like, okay, I can do this thing that's going to provide food for me. I'm taking care of myself and also my community by growing the food. That's a really nice feeling, especially when I felt so helpless and scared during the lockdown. Questions about what's going to happen with the food supply. Are we going to be okay? I don't know. But this is one small thing I can do. I think the garden is definitely good for my mental health and it makes me feel good.
These environmental portraits of Leh Deuling were photographed in her backyard garden in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka. These photos were made by Montreal portrait photographer Selena Phillips-Boyle of Life by Selena Photography. Selena specializes in environmental portraiture and natural light photography. This pandemic photo project about gardens and mental health is part of a five-part photo series. Here you can see photos from Part One with Hashmita, Part Three with Kristen, Part Four with Flavie, and la cinquième partie avec Élise of this pandemic portrait series.
Ces portraits environnementaux de Leh Deuling a été photographiée dans le cours de son jardin à Tiohtià:ke (Montréal) sur le territoire de la nation Kanien’kehà:ka. Ces photos ont été produites par la photographe montréalaise Selena Phillips-Boyle, de Life by Selena Photography. Selena se spécialise en portraits environnementaux et la photographie en lumière ambiante. Ce projet photo en pandémie porte sur les jardins et la santé mentale, et est la première partie d’une série de cinq. Ici vous pouvez voir les portraits de la première partie avec Hashmita, la troisième partie avec Kristen, la quatrième partie avec Flavie et la cinquième partie avec Élise.