Neamat El Diwany

This piece came as an extension to my exhibition entitled "When Magnolias Bloom." There is something arresting and ethereal about a magnolia tree in flower. Something divine and mystical that reminds me of a whirling dervish bursting in grace and total liberation. In my increasingly frequent states of solitude, - Me, Myself, and I - find a companiable companion in this outlandish tree, the first of my garden's plants and the closest to my heart. I gaze at its flower and how it opens alarmingly wide as if to embrace the sun; how its delicate scent drugs the air and drowns my every thought in sweetness that lingers far beyond its short life. How these voluptuous creamy petals give themselves so generously to life with such unreserved ardor and noble bounty. And I wonder what wouldn't be possible if we could learn to live like that?

• A one-of-a-kind, hand-painted artwork