Mikael Kihlman

Title: Backyard with a cat – From the series Lost Gardens
Technique: Etching
Edition: 40
Image dimensions: 16 x 12,5 cm
Paper dimensions: 30,5 x 22,5 cm

Lost Gardens
I have been collecting images related to gardens for many years. My own pictures, those of others, and internal ones in the form of memories, scents, fantasies, and wishful thinking. Nothing is as fleeting and unpredictable as a garden. I was partly raised among several, have had two of my own, and now have one. A garden is a "work in progress" in the truest sense of the word—you rarely experience its entire lifespan. It has different conditions for its existence than you do, even though you share some of them. You get to take part in it, and you engage in a conversation with it over a limited period of time. A conversation that is mostly about listening, sensing, and learning for your own sake.

The project Lost Gardens, if it is to be gathered under a name, is a project that seems to be starting now. At least I feel somewhat ready. I’ve stocked up on plenty of copper plates, the drypoint needle is as sharp as ever (diamond), and the burnisher will be getting some use as well. - Mikael Kihlman