NOMADIC GARDEN

Ongoing project · Developed as part of Climate Adaptation for Creatives by Black Mountains College and the British Council

Concept

Nomadic Garden is an ongoing project and a practical experiment rather than a finished work.
It emerged from discussions about nomadic gardens as a possible response to future climate instability. The image of a garden in constant movement stayed with me and gradually transformed into a personal and material inquiry.
I began to reflect on what a nomadic garden could actually be. What form would it take, and how could it function. Over time, I realized that I already live a similar experience. My life is divided between several places: Lviv, where my partner lives; Vinnytsia, where my mother lives; a remote village where my grandfather lives; and various artist residencies. Wherever I stay for a while, a garden tends to appear around me, sometimes deliberately, sometimes almost by itself.
The plants live this life together with me. I care for them when I am present and try to ensure their survival when I am not. This can mean installing automatic watering systems, choosing drought-resistant species, or temporarily passing the plants to someone else. Not all of them survive. The process often involves accepting loss, impermanence, and the illusory nature of ownership.
To be nomadic means to have many homes, or perhaps to have none.
With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, my relationship to things shifted radically. I began to ask myself what I would take if I had to leave immediately. Books and objects lost their importance. What remained essential were plants: a few amaryllis bulbs, seeds prepared for spring. Although this remained a hypothetical situation for me, the question stayed open.
This project proposes a simple but persistent experiment. I plan to build a miniature mobile greenhouse and carry it with me wherever I go. The work asks practical and existential questions at the same time. Which plants are able to adapt to constant movement. How much care is possible on the road. What survives, and what does not.