I lock my bike and carefully walk up the spiral fire escape leading me to Hashmita's balcony garden. Thanks to Hashmita's keen eye for natural light we've timed the photo session perfectly, and beautiful morning sun creeps over the neighbouring buildings and pours onto her balcony garden. In classic Montréal fashion, Hashmita's balcony is tiny, barely 3 feet by 5 feet, but I'm impressed by what she's been able to do with such a small space. While some might leave this space unused save for a wobbly wooden chair to sit on while popping outside for a short cigarette, Hashmita has transformed her balcony into a dreamy nook, perfect for enjoying a morning coffee and diving deep into a pile of books.
J’attache mon vélo et grimpe prudemment des marches de secours en colimaçon. Elles mènent directement au jardin de Hashmita, lequel est situé sur son balcon. Hashmita a l'œil attentif: grâce à elle nous avons choisi le temps parfait pour la session photo. L’éclairage naturel provenant du soleil matinal se fait voir des coins des édifices pour ensuite plonger dans son jardin de balcon. Comme dans la majorité des appartements montréalais, le balcon de Hashmita est tout petit, faisant à peine 3 par 5 pieds, mais je suis impressionnée par ce qu’elle a pu faire avec un tel espace. Certains laisseraient cet espace inutilisé sauf pour une chaise en bois pour prendre une pause cigarette. Hashmita a par contre transformé son balcon en un recoin parfait pour rêvasser, idéalement avec une tasse de café et un livre en main.
Hashmita moves around the balcony, watering her plants with care and tenderness, and the space fills with a quiet calm. This isn't a task that Hashmita rushes through; it's a quiet way to spend time with herself at the beginning of each day, a routine she's developed to anchor her mental health in the middle of a loud city and a worldwide pandemic. As I photograph Hashmita, I challenge myself to move around the small space to catch the light in different ways and frame her from different angles. In one image I photograph her square onto the camera with the light spilling around her. For another photo I climb higher on the spiral stairs to photograph Hashmita from the top down. And finally I settle on my favourite framing of the day: a portrait of Hashmita through the black metal bars of the staircase as she delicately waters the plant in a pot she made herself, etched with the words "Conceptual Romance".
Hashmita se déplace sur le balcon, arrosant ses plantes avec soin. D’un coup, l’espace est serein. C’est évident que ce n’est pas une tâche que Hashmita fait à la hâte, mais plutôt une manière de passer un moment tranquille seule au début de chaque journée, une routine qu’elle a développée pour ancrer sa santé mentale au sein d’une ville bruyante et d’une pandémie globale. Quand je prends Hashmita en photo, je me lance un défi de me déplacer dans le petit espace pour capter la lumière de manières différentes et encadrer le sujet sous différents angles. Dans une photo, je la prends en photo de face avec la lumière autour d’elle. Pour une autre, je grimpe les escaliers en colimaçon pour photographier Hashmita de haut. Finalement, je trouve mon cadrage préféré de la journée: un portrait de Hashmita que je prends à travers les barres de métal peintes en noir de l’escalier. Elle tient un pot qu’elle a créé, sur lequel est gravé “Conceptual Romance”.
Here are some excerpts from our conversation together about gardens, mental health, and spending time with yourself.
Voici quelques extraits de notre conversation sur les jardins, la santé mentale, et passer du temps avec soi.
Selena: Can you tell me a little bit about what your garden means to you?
Hashmita: It wasn't intentional but I feel like during quarantine my garden just turned into a bit of a sanctuary and it helped me to develop a routine during quarantine which was really helpful for my mental health. So coming out here in the morning and having access to some greenery and the outdoors and the birds and the changing light in the tree helped to start my mornings out here. And in terms of the plants I've learned from past years just to keep it simple and only do what I can manage. And that's what I did. The peas were making me very happy. Just kind of like a refuge.
Selena: Can you tell me about how you use your balcony space?
Hashmita: At this point in the pandemic I didn't have a lot of imposed structure in my life, so I had to find ways to create that for myself. On the other side of the apartment is a loud car garage, and that is the polar opposite of this space. That's why I was training myself to wake up super early before the loud garage across the street from my front door opened, so I could have quiet time and not wake up frustrated and angry. Waking up and having this space where I could go read every morning and enrich my mind, and have a quiet moment with myself, and the birds and the trees and plants, was a nice way to start my day and provide a bit of structure. It transformed into a really safe space for me because of that, and reignited my passion for reading.
Selena: One of the things I’m exploring through this project is how connection with our garden impacts our well being.
Hashmita: Well, the first thing is that it's time away from the screen; I'm not looking at my phone. I think the main thing is when I'm doing anything in a garden, I'm not thinking about what other people think of me. I think that's helpful for everyone. I think that one of the main things with being on a screen and being on social media is that you're constantly evaluating yourself or your environment or things in the world, and that can wear on you. It's sort of the same thing with cooking where there's no pressure to have a perfect end result, you're just doing something for the pleasure of using your body and doing something. And maybe even turning off your mind for a second. And also just being an introvert, it's a nice way to spend time with myself.
These environmental portraits of Hashmita Alimchandani were photographed on her balcony 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 the first in a five-part photo series. Here you can see Part Two with Leh, Part Three with Kristen, Part Four with Flavie, and Part Five with Élise of this pandemic portrait series.
Hashmita Alimchandani a été photographiée sur son jardin de balcon à Tiohtià:ke (Montréal) sur le territoire de la nation Kanien’kehà:ka. Ces portraits environnementaux ont été produits 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 deuxième partie avec Leh, la troisième partie avec Kristen, la quatrième partie avec Flavie et la cinquième partie avec Élise de cette série de jardinage.