Becoming
Get close enough and a leaf stops looking like a leaf. This is a caladium, the same variety of plant as Heartwell, seen so close that it turns into a landscape: fields of deep magenta giving way to fresh green, with tiny speckles scattered right where one color meets the other. Every vein is traced in pink, like a map of where the color has traveled.
Caladiums are grown for leaves just like this. There are more than a thousand named varieties, in reds, pinks, whites, salmons, silvers, and greens, all bred from one wild plant of the tropical Americas. No two leaves are painted quite the same, and this one looks like it's still deciding what to be.
This is a moment of noticing that calls for pure honesty. Every time I look at this image it perplexes me. I have the RAW, it’s dated, and clearly captured by my camera, but the where is a blank to me. I often wonder, where was I when this moment happened? A question that leads to no answer, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter, the moment exists forever anyways, and thank goodness, because dang it looks good.
What we protect begins with what we notice. My noticing leads to The Wild Land Project.
About This Image
Common name: Caladium (heart of Jesus, angel wings)
Scientific name: Caladium bicolor
Location: Northern Belize
Collection: The Fabric of Nature
