Flames Among Stones

Established by two sisters, Güler and Türkan, the garden at the centre of Flames Among Stones is a haven, a fertile ground for entering in resonance with the earth and its knowledge. Responding to what climate dictates, and gently letting nature indicate which path to take, the gardeners follow seasonal rhythms and return to a circadian time. Through organic gestures, they work with soil, and not against it —potentiating its growth—, as if they were part of a living cell whose membrane would be the surrounding wall. This latter marks a separation between such a feminine space and an authoritarian and ever-increasing patriarchal outside. Yet, not by any means does the garden remain isolated from the world. On the contrary, it acts as an interface, offering room for resistance and experimentation of alternative strategies to cope with tense times. Güler and Türkan remind us of the significance of community spirit, collective work, and resilience at a time when the connection to land has been lost by most city dwellers, who through their urbanity became uprooted. Gardening becomes the passageway to another wisdom to help us reground ourselves and respond to exclusive politics and ecological degradation. As an interface, the garden also reflects contemporary uncertainty. What will happen after the two sisters die? Who will take care of the yard? And what if the real estate pressure outweighed and made it impossible to maintain it? Would their matrilineal transmission chain be broken as the one of Şahmaran? The folktale of Şahmaran, a deity with the head of a woman and the body of a snake who can navigate between worlds, is interlaced with the garden narrative. Caves, rocks and other crevices are the mineral counterpoints of the verdant leafage, and suggest the deity’s universe. Şahmaran’s ability to perceive this and other realms’ secrets runs parallel to the women’s collective knowledge. Yet, her matriarch’s line is interrupted when, after being betrayed, her wisdom is passed on to her lover instead of her daughters. A warning against power loss and the disappearance of ancestral transmission chains? Or a poignant reminder to collaborate and contribute to communal knowledge production? Clelia Coussonnet, 201