A Year with Wendy Whiteley: Conversations About Art, Life and Gardening by Ashleigh Wilson

Author:Ashleigh Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2022-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

Jarman’s garden attained legendary status among fans and gardening specialists. But it faced an uncertain future, so in 2020, twenty-six years after his death, a crowdfunding campaign raised £3.5 million to keep the cottage in public hands. More than eight thousand individual donations were received; David Hockney was said to have been among those making contributions. The funds were then used to purchase Prospect Cottage and pay for a permanent public program for the building and its garden.

Tilda Swinton, who launched the appeal, said the campaign proved how invaluable Jarman’s vision had been. ‘When Derek initiated the project of making of this little house on the shingle the unique and magically empowering space it has come to be,’ she said, ‘not only for him, but for so many of us, it was at a time of intense uncertainty and fragility in his own life.’

~

The Lavender Bay garden appears on Google Maps, with a hat-tip to Frances Hodgson Burnett, as Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden. So much has already been done, but when Wendy looks out from her balcony, she sees all the small refinements that continue to demand her attention. An unfinished artwork, constantly evolving.

Wendy is comfortable with this concept: ‘I think certain kinds of gardens are an artwork. Of course they are. They’re creative. And if they’re good, then you could call them an artwork. But they’re not ones that you can sell, unfortunately, and make a lot of money.’ She laughs.

This is Wendy’s gift to Sydney, as the former premier put it, but it hasn’t been cheap. I press for details of her personal expenditure. She estimates that the garden has cost her about three million dollars, taking in wages and equipment and other expenses. She is open, as always, about the source of that money: Brett has contributed generously to this project, however indirectly, through his art. But unlike Jarman’s garden in England, private donors have not stepped forward to sustain the operations of this section of Lavender Bay. Not yet, anyway.

Shortly before the 2022 federal election, Josh Frydenberg, the treasurer, stops by Wendy’s house with Trent Zimmerman, the local member. They are there to announce Deductive Gift Recipient status for the garden, a long-awaited measure to make philanthropic contributions tax deductible. Both politicians lose their seat in the subsequent Albanese victory but the idea is unlikely to disappear with them.

~

In the 2009 Order of Australia awards, Wendy was awarded a medal (OAM) in the general division. In doing so, the government was recognising the lasting value of guerrilla landscaping in Sydney. The official citation expressed Wendy’s achievement more formally: ‘For service to the community through the establishment and maintenance of a public garden at Lavender Bay, and as a supporter of the visual arts.’

Praise for Wendy’s achievements in the garden has been delivered without any serious cynicism or criticism, which is rare for this city. An example: James Valentine, an ABC radio presenter and columnist, wrote a piece in the North Shore Times in October 2015 calling the garden an inspiration.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.