Hirsch’s INDESTRUCTIBLE draws upon nature to allegorically address and challenge her ideas of beauty, preparedness, perseverance and strength.
Throughout history, artists and authors have mused endlessly about gardens. Volumes have been written about how gardens can symbolize personal growth, renewed vigor, budding life and withering decay. For Hirsch, INDESTRUCTIBLE draws upon the history of the garden as a metaphor and is a cathartic hybrid of art-making and spiritual growth.
Aligning herself with many contemporary text based conceptual artists, Hirsch incorporates the use of personal mantras to instantly conjure and contemplate the juxtaposition of text and imagery. Hirsch’s musings have a feminine slant to them without being pigeonholed into a feminist camp. Aesthetically, the work incorporates a conventional vision of what one may think a garden resembles; blooming flowers, fluttering butterflies, entwined vines, etc., however lurking amid all this growth lies hints of peril and demise. Serpents and skulls pepper the narratives, drawing attention to the fact that all that lives surely dies, and that time is only a momentary measure
Hirsch states, “My gardens symbolize the unseen realm of spirit out of which comes the visible universe. Humans are here to grow and evolve into their highest and best self. There is a metaphorical garden planted inside each and every one of us. When darkness engulfs the spirit and one feels stuck, they are planted. Darkness along our journey is inevitable but how we choose to tend to our thoughts will create the environment in which we live. Life feeds us a whole host of emotions and regardless of how beautiful or dismal our physical reality looks, time teaches us that nothing ever stays the same and patience allows us to experience and endure it.”