Modern Nature: Journals, 1989 – 1990 - The Journals of Derek Jarman by Derek Jarman

Horticulture was both therapy and meditation for filmmaker Derek Jarman, and this intimate diary of the period he spent tending to his garden at Dungeness is as much about personal and cultural reflection as planting and pruning. Written as Jarman absorbed the effects of his HIV diagnosis, Modern Nature is often poignant, often angry and always rewarding.

Read this meditative and inspiring diary of Derek Jarman's famous garden at Dungeness, which is also a powerful account of his life as an HIV positive man in the 1980s.

In 1986 Derek Jarman discovered he was HIV positive and decided to make a garden at his cottage on the barren coast of Dungeness.

Facing an uncertain future, he nevertheless found solace in nature, growing all manner of plants. While some perished beneath wind and sea-spray others flourished, creating brilliant, unexpected beauty in the wilderness.

Modern Nature is both a diary of the garden and a meditation by Jarman on his own life: his childhood, his time as a young gay man in the 1960s, his renowned career as an artist, writer and film-maker. It is at once a lament for a lost generation, an unabashed celebration of gay sexuality, and a devotion to all that is living.

'An essential - urgent - book for the 21st Century' Hans Ulrich Obrist

This new edition features an introduction from Olivia Laing, the author of Crudo