“Everly Object that is loved forms the center of a paradise.”

- William Blake

I planted this olive tree at the Elmhurst Sculpture Garden to contribute to the community of plants, animals, people and objects that exist in this place. I selected an olive tree in response to the Olive Garden restaurant that you see on the north side of our garden. 

Note that the restaurant has Italianate formal garden landscaping, including topiary hedges, Italianate cypress trees and a rock garden. The architectural standards of Olive Garden restaurants are modeled on a villa in Tuscany, Italy, called Riserva di Fizzano. 

According to Wikipedia, the term “paradise” comes from an old Iranian or Proto-Indo-European root that literally means "walled (enclosure)", from pairi- "around" and -diz "to create (a wall)”. Later Greek derivations refer to tended royal gardens and menageries. The paradise garden is a classical landscaping from Iran, which influenced European formal gardens of the Mediterranean. Paradise gardens are sometimes called Islamic gardens. They are thought to be models of the mythic garden of Eden.

By planting an olive tree here, I am connecting to the possibility that the garden of Eden is everywhere, including in an open space between a freeway offramp and a shopping mall.

How are our capitalist architectures (such as shopping malls, chain stores and freeways) informed by and departing from classical forms and stories of so-called Western civilization? Are we creating paradise all around us in every beloved object?

This tree is an Arbequina olive (Olea europaea) This type of olive tree is hardy enough to live in the Queens climate zone. Arbequina olive trees are self-pollinating, meaning that pollen can be transferred from it’s own flowers to fertilize and create fruit.

I hope that this olive tree survives for a long time and begins to bear fruit. If you visit my piece, Queens Paradise Garden, please reach out via my instagram feed @alexhammondstudio and tell me how the tree is doing. 

☮

Queens Paradise Garden
Elmhurst Sculpture Garden, Queens, NY
Early Summer, 2023