DISPLEASURE GARDEN, FROM SYRIA TO SOUTHWARK: TURNING A NEW LEAF

by Hana Alsaai

The film of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon initiated an exploration of the fragility of Earth and the critical global issues affecting the natural world. The Southwark ‘Displeasure Garden’ inverts the concept of the British Pleasure Garden, creating a museum that archives the demise of nature whilst providing gardens of life for its potential rebirth. Adjacent to the gardens, ‘From Syria to Southwark: Turning a New Leaf’ is a proposal for a neighbourhood that celebrates growing, bringing the culture of Syria to central London. Providing new homes and jobs for refugees, Levantine heritage is brought from Syria to Southwark, as inhabitants rebuild the lost Great Colonnade at Palmyra, creating a landscape where growing vines and making food is communalised and outward-looking; an opportunity for regrowth and cultural celebration. Growing grapevines on trellises and enjoying open-air cooking; the smells of Syria waft over the borough, purifying its polluted skies.