Modern Nature: Journals, 1989 – 1990(1 The Journals of Derek Jarman)

A very special book - a divine, meditative and inspiring diary of Derek Jarman's famous garden at Dungeness. Read this meditative and inspiring diary of Derek Jarman's famous garden at Dungeness, which is also a powerful account of his life as an HIV positive man in the 1980s. In 1986 Derek Jarman discovered he was HIV positive and decided to make a garden at his cottage on the barren coast of Dungeness. Facing an uncertain future, he nevertheless found solace in nature, growing all manner of plants. While some perished beneath wind and sea-spray others flourished, creating brilliant, unexpected beauty in the wilderness. Modern Nature is both a diary of the garden and a meditation by Jarman on his own life- his childhood, his time as a young gay man in the 1960s, his renowned career as an artist, writer and film-maker. It is at once a lament for a lost generation, an unabashed celebration of gay sexuality, and a devotion to all that is living. 'An essential - urgent - book for the 21st Century' Hans Ulrich Obrist This new edition features an introduction from Olivia Laing, the author of Crudo

About the Author :
Derek Jarman (Author) Derek Jarman was born in London in 1942. His career spanned decades and genres, from painter, theatre designer, director, film maker, to poet, writer, campaigner and gardener. His features include Sebastiane (1976), Jubilee (1978), Caravaggio (1986), The Last of England (1987), Edward II (1991) and Blue (1993). His paintings - for which he was a Turner Prize nominee in 1986 - continue to be exhibited worldwide, and his garden in Dungeness remains a site of pilgrimage to fans and newcomers alike. Olivia Laing (Introducer) Olivia Laing is an internationally acclaimed writer and critic. They're the author of eight books, including The Lonely City, Everybody and the Sunday Times number one bestseller The Garden Against Time. Laing's first novel, Crudo, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and in 2018 they were awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction. They are an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts and their books have been translated into twenty-one languages.

Review :
The most beautiful & furious book of all time An essential – urgent – book for the 21st Century A marvellous, moving book Jarman gave his garden a certain narrative; perhaps he treated it a bit like a film or theatre set. His films were visionary, eccentric, romantic and rebellious, all of which could also be said about his garden It's hard not to warm to the man who, in the face of all the personal and professional hardships described in this book, can still regard himself as 'the most fortunate film-maker of my generation An inspiring diary of a life well lived Joy and life and more life and more joy and street corners and making a garden out of stones and making films and love