Memory Garden
for Derek Jarman (2023)
Corrugated metal garden bed, native & invasive plant species,
found sculptural materials.
Sculptural Design & Performance by Octavio Rose Hingle
Commissioned by Crip’d Ecologies at Root Division Gallery
Performed April 2026
Sound Composition by Maria BC
Photos by Minoosh Zomorodinia
Memory Garden is an altar to the life that flourishes on the sides of our freeways, in the cracks of abandoned lots, and all the unexpected spaces in between. The installation and accompanying performance is the precursor to Under Earth, in tribute British queer filmmaker Derek Jarman. After Jarman received a positive HIV diagnosis in the mid 80’s, he built a thriving garden in the harsh and rocky coast of Dungeness, England. Using found objects and plants from the surrounding landscape, Jarman created an anarchic temple of pleasure and remembrance as he grieved and discovered new ways to find meaning in the world around him. This installation and performance honors and reflects Jarman's ethos in the peripheral spaces of the Bay Area’s ecosystem; exploring my own lifelong relationship to this environment through embodiments that shift across the lines of illness, health and erotic discovery.
