Green Cathedral of South Africa (Soekershof)

Land Art Artist Jody Joyner from Tucson, Arizona, recently finished works on a giant nest (woven of hibiscus twigs) at Soekershof; Private Mazes & Botanical Gardens in South Africa in Robertson, Western Cape. She was inspired by the numerous weaver bird nests in the old stretch of the Klaas Voogds River which runs through the gardens

In the narrow meaning of the word a nest is the spot in which birds lay their egg(s) and hatch.

In the Germanic languages it is also used as a name for a sleeping spot or a place where two lovers please each other.

In the more natural sense of the word ‘nest’ means ‘house’. And at home you feel yourselves at home in your own protected surroundings or shelter. People nowadays have simply attached themselves to comfort which modern technology offers us and that actually detaches them from the natural surroundings.

Why then not a nest made of natural material from its own surroundings? Simply to attach to the vicissitudes of nature and to repair your own ecobalans?

This idea is the basis with which Land Art artist Jody Joyner from Tucson, Arizona, USA has been playing with  from the end of December in at Soekershof; Private Mazes & Botanical Gardens in South Africa also named Green Cathedral or South Africa.

Joyner is on a global tour for several months. Before commencing her job at Soekershof two months ago she was involved in Landartgenerator in Dubai and a project in the Louvre in Paris. From South Africa she will first fly to Australia to be involved in a project with aboriginals and from there she will create an object with Inuit in the North of Canada. Her assignment in South Africa was part of Land Art project in South Africa; an initiative of Soekershof. This project is a pure private initiative without (governmental) grants and/or subsidies.

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