This garden expresses the value of a colour: carmine red. “Carmine Catcher” celebrates the natural production of the colour obtained through extraction from the dried body of the carmine cochineal (Dactylopius coccus), which feeds exclusively on the pads of prickly pear on which it is bred.
COUNTRY SCOTLAND
Sponsor
Anna Rhodes is a landscape architect and collaborates with Clare Flatley, a ceramic artist. Anna Rhodes is interested in eliciting reaction and active participation in observers. Anna has recently exhibited her works at important international garden shows, both in France and in England. She currently teaches at the University of Edinburgh. Clare Flatley uses sculpture to reveal the qualities of matter, both of ceramics and of glass, in order to confront the observer with creations capable of provoking contradictory feelings of adhesion and disobedience to reality.
The availability of carmine contributed to materialize the ancestral desire for bold colour, which historically signified power. The structure of the garden invites the visitor to walk through rows of prickly pears, as in an agricultural setting, underneath hanging fabrics inspired by the dyeing process. Next to these, glazed vases in the various shades of red represent the precious ground product and the different nuances obtainable. In this arid environment the carmine red of the bowls reminds us of its value as a resource inviting the visitor to stop and reignite the desire for an element that only by itself already expresses so much strength, in a world where social media culture is flattening our attention.
Opuntia ficus – indica
Boutelona gracilis
