Arboretum Cycle

Light in the gardens of the San Francisco Arboretum, photographed in early spring. Elohim are divine beings, the energy of light as creation.

Abaton, a sacred place, a sanctuary for dreaming and healing.

These four films spontaneously manifested as four stages of life: childhood, youth, maturity and old age. Elohim was photographed in early spring, the week of the Lunar New Year, the very spirit of Creation. Abaton was photographed a few weeks later in the full ripeness of spring, the very purity and passion of the Garden. Coda was photographed in late spring, in the aftermath of this purity, the first shades of mortality and Knowledge appearing. And finally, Ode, photographed in early summer, is a soft, textured song of the Fallen, the dissonant reds of death, seeds and rebirth. – Nathaniel Dorsky

These four films spontaneously manifested as four stages of life: childhood, youth, maturity and old age. Elohim was photographed in early spring, the week of the Lunar New Year, the very spirit of Creation. Abaton was photographed a few weeks later in the full ripeness of spring, the very purity and passion of the Garden. Coda was photographed in late spring, in the aftermath of this purity, the first shades of mortality and Knowledge appearing. And finally, Ode, photographed in early summer, is a soft, textured song of the Fallen, the dissonant reds of death, seeds and rebirth. – Nathaniel Dorsky

September’s ripeness, a blessing on earth, our Indian summer.

A monody is an ode sung by a single actor in a Greek tragedy, a poem lamenting a person’s death. In this case, the sixth section of the Arboretum Cycle, the death of the garden itself.

Epilogue is the seventh film in the Arboretum Cycle, a descent into the dark damp earth, a period of dying.