A Talk by Michael Little

“I have found it helpful to think of a garden as sculpture. Not sculpture in the sense of an ordinary object to be viewed. But sculpture that is large enough and perforated enough to walk through”. - James Rose, Landscape Architect 1958.

In this talk we look at examples of many ancient and contemporary landscapes which powerfully reflect the worldview of the people that made them. We will follow the lead of the early Earth Artists of the 1970’s who reacted to the long traditions of Landscape Architecture, including a variety of Neolithic Sites across the world, elaborate Royal Gardens and Contemporary Urban Memorials. And we will pose the essential questions these artists put forward: what is the nature of history, place, cycles of growth and decay, light and shadow…..and what is the impulse of humans to make regenerative monuments on the land. What are the metaphors which address the rich fabric of the great outdoors - from the underworld, and the soil itself, through the biosphere to the vast horizon and the stars above. What do these great gestures of landscape say about who we are and where we might be going?

Michael Little has a Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Massachusetts, USA. Over the past twenty years he has designed ecological parks, institutional campuses and residential layouts throughout South India.

Works include the Adyar Poonga in Chennai, the  National Law School Bangalore, and the Toyota Ecozone in Bidadi.  He is also the Landscape Architect of many of Good Earth's projects, including Good Earth Malhar.

His unique approach to landscape involves bringing out the indigenous landscape’s true spirit with an artful composition of plants, shaped landforms, natural water bodies, local boulders and integrated structures. His work speaks to the distant landscapes of prehistory and to our contemporary visions of nature and culture.