Understorey: A Year Among Weeds

Understorey by Anna Chapman Parker is a beautifully written study of weeds, exploring their joys and difficulties, and the art of paying attention to even the smallest things.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 06 June 2024
Publisher: Duckworth Books

A beautiful, quiet, achingly tender book, Kerri ní Dochartaigh's Understorey is a delicately written study of the joys and difficulties of paying attention. Jessie Greengrass, author of The High House, describes it as "a year spent looking closely at weeds, our most ubiquitous and accessible plants." In gardens, on verges, or clustered around municipal lampposts, weeds offer a year-round spectacle of wildlife. The benefits of being among greenery are well known, but what exactly are these vaguely familiar shapes that accompany our every step, yet pass beneath our notice? How and when do they emerge, bloom, and subside, and what would it mean to notice them? Meditating too on how they appear in other artists' work, from a bramble framing a sixth-century Byzantine manuscript to a kudzu vine installation in contemporary Berlin, Chapman Parker explores the art of paying attention even to the smallest things.

Understorey is a book that explores the joys and difficulties of paying attention. Kerri ní Dochartaigh's writing is delicate and poignant, and she delves into the world of weeds, our most ubiquitous and accessible plants. In gardens, on verges, or clustered around municipal lampposts, weeds offer a year-round spectacle of wildlife. The benefits of being among greenery are well known, but what exactly are these vaguely familiar shapes that accompany our every step, yet pass beneath our notice? How and when do they emerge, bloom, and subside, and what would it mean to notice them? Chapman Parker meditates on how they appear in other artists' work, from a bramble framing a sixth-century Byzantine manuscript to a kudzu vine installation in contemporary Berlin, and explores the art of paying attention even to the smallest things.

Understorey is a book that explores the joys and difficulties of paying attention. Kerri ní Dochartaigh's writing is delicate and poignant, and she delves into the world of weeds, our most ubiquitous and accessible plants. In gardens, on verges, or clustered around municipal lampposts, weeds offer a year-round spectacle of wildlife. The benefits of being among greenery are well known, but what exactly are these vaguely familiar shapes that accompany our every step, yet pass beneath our notice? How and when do they emerge, bloom, and subside, and what would it mean to notice them? Chapman Parker meditates on how they appear in other artists' work, from a bramble framing a sixth-century Byzantine manuscript to a kudzu vine installation in contemporary Berlin, and explores the art of paying attention even to the smallest things.

Weight: 502g
Dimension: 218 x 155 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780715655207