Plant Food: A Poem By Laura Ó Reilly

"Plant Food” by Laura Ó Reilly reveals the artist's personal journey through the non-linear stages of processing grief, transforming raw emotions into nutrient-rich soil for new beginnings. This 3” x 4” handmade book, crafted from cotton paper and adorned with seashells, twine, watercolor pigment, and archival ink, presents a poem that can be read as a complete narrative or as individual verses, with each page offering its own stand-alone reflection.

The poem concludes with a call to action, featuring a plantable wildflower seed paper insert that symbolizes the renewal of spring after a long winter. Hand bound and stamped by the artist, “Plant Food” stands as both a unique post-pandemic artifact and a universal testament to the power of regeneration.

Laura Ó Reilly (b. 1986, raised in NYC) is an American interdisciplinary artist and community builder working between Brooklyn and Ireland. She explores the cycle of seasons through a diverse range of mediums, including poetry, ephemera, photography, moving image, paint, fiber, lore, clay, code, and 3D web spaces. Laura has exhibited internationally and is an alumna of the New Museum’s creative tech incubator, NEW INC. Ó Reilly holds a BA in New Media from SUNY Purchase and a certificate in Systems Thinking from MIT. @lor.earth

2024; each unique in an open edition; 3” x 4” book, handmade cotton paper, seashell, twine & archival ink; plantable Wildflower seed paper insert; bound & stamped by the artist.