{"id":24815,"date":"2024-04-26T14:21:24","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T18:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=24815"},"modified":"2024-04-26T14:21:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T18:21:24","slug":"bitetti-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2024\/04\/26\/bitetti-3\/","title":{"rendered":"In Bitetti\u2019s \u2018Gardening Because Murder Is Wrong,\u2019 Plants Help Her \u2018De-Stress\/De-Rage\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During covid, Kathleen Bitetti’s neighbor cut down trees that had shaded her South Boston yard, so she began filling the small dirt plot behind the triple decker in which she lives with plants from local nurseries, turning her yard into a lush haven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Gardening, whether outdoors or indoors, is for me is a way to de-stress\/de-rage and to enjoy the wonders of nature,\u201d the artist writes of her multimedia installation \u201cGardening Because Murder Is Wrong\u201d at Boston\u2019s Gallery Kayafas<\/a> from April 5 to May 11, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the back wall of exhibition, \u201cNeighbors,\u201d depicts \u201cpollinators in my garden and celebrates neighbors all kinds,\u201d plus knit bees, ceramic watering cans, cut flowers, and used how-to-garden books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the left wall is “Flowers for Clara,\u201d which collects iPhone photos since 2020. When covid sent Bitetti’s office home to work remotely, she began exchanging morning texts with her co-worker Clara, who often wears floral-patterned shirts to work and lives on a street whose name references flowers. Soon Bitetti was adding photos of flowers in her garden, from her walks, from her travels. Bitetti writes that it \u201ccelebrates relationships we have and grow with others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWelcome to Wonderland,\u201d on the right wall, offers photos of the garden she\u2019s begun on the front steps of her apartment building plus figurines representing characters from Lewis Carroll\u2019s \u201cAlice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show\u2019s title, \u201cGardening Because Murder Is Wrong,\u201d Bitetti writes, \u201chas become a catch phrase for many of my colleagues and close friends. We often share images of the plants we buy or plan to buy with each other. I also have found that when I share this phrase with others, particularly other women, a knowing smile and twinkle in their eyes is shared. And when the phrase is shared with those who are gardeners\/are flora caregivers, they often impart a knowing laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9Greg Cook 2024 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kathleen
Kathleen Bitetti, “Welcome To Wonderland,” in the exhibition “Gardening Because Murder Is Wrong” at Boston’s Gallery Kayafas, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kathleen
Kathleen Bitetti, “Welcome To Wonderland” (detail), in the exhibition “Gardening Because Murder Is Wrong” at Boston’s Gallery Kayafas, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kathleen
Kathleen Bitetti, “Neighbors,” in the exhibition “Gardening Because Murder Is Wrong” at Boston’s Gallery Kayafas, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kathleen
Kathleen Bitetti, “Welcome To Wonderland” (detail), in the exhibition “Gardening Because Murder Is Wrong” at Boston’s Gallery Kayafas, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kathleen
Kathleen Bitetti, “Welcome To Wonderland” (detail), in the exhibition “Gardening Because Murder Is Wrong” at Boston’s Gallery Kayafas, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kathleen
Kathleen Bitetti, “Neighbors,” in the exhibition “Gardening Because Murder Is Wrong” at Boston’s Gallery Kayafas, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kathleen
Kathleen Bitetti, “Flowers for Clara,” in the exhibition “Gardening Because Murder Is Wrong” at Boston’s Gallery Kayafas, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During covid, Kathleen Bitetti’s neighbor cut down trees that had shaded her South Boston yard, so she began filling the small dirt plot behind the triple decker in which she lives with plants from local nurseries, turning her yard into a lush haven. “Gardening, whether outdoors or indoors, is for me is a way to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[416,979],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24815"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24815"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24886,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24815\/revisions\/24886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}