Aviva/Vita: The Garden (ablution & degradation)

Ablutions, a collaborative performance
1972
Aviva Rahmani, Suzanne Lacy, Judy Chicago, and Sandi Orgel

Aviva Rahmani “The Transformation of Degradation”

Aviva Rahmani, “Lane’s 1″

Aviva Rahmani Ghost Nets, 1991-2000

Yet shall the garden with the state of war
Aptly contrast, a miniature endeavour
To hold the graces and the courtesies
Against a horrid wilderness. The civil
Ever oppsoed the rude, as centuries’
Slow progress laboured forward, then the check,
Then the slow uphill climb again, the slide
Back to the pit, the climb out of the pit,
Advance, relapse, advance, relapse, advance,
Regular as the measure of a dance;
So does the gardener in little way
Maintain the bastion of his opposition
And by a symbol keep civility;
So does the brave man strive
To keep enjoyment in his breast alive
when all is dark and even in the heart
Of beauty feeds the pallid worm of death.
-Vita Sackville-West, 1946