October 1, 2023, Norfolk, VA: I find my fall Gourd Goddess at Food Lion as part of a plentiful harvest of gourds and pumpkins. She’s an Ornamental Gourd, not hardshell, so she’s going to decay over the course of the coming winter. Last year I documented my Rotting Gourd Goddess’s journey for the first time, and she went to her final outdoor home (my girlfriend’s house) in early January. This year’s model is bright yellow and green, and through seasons of inspiration, she exceeds my expectation staying ripe into early spring.
Photo journal timeline:
As winter turns to spring, her green subtly begins to fade. I move her to the window, where for a few weeks she’ll stay. Daffodils bloom outside, then the Amaryllis buds open, juxtaposed beside the Rotting Goddess on a string of rainy days.
So I wrap her up and take her to her final home, a south-facing porch in the piedmont of North Carolina where She can be a gourd ornament, an outdoor Goddess once again. Her belly white and gray with mold, she slowly decays to show us her cycle of life and death, and ours as well.
7 months after she came home with me, this Gourd Goddess sits, decaying, yet remaining whole. In a few short months, a new harvest will come, bringing new ornamental gourds and pumpkins to bless homes and porches all over again. Hail the Gourd Goddesses 🙂
-Arianna
arianna's creative travels 