I am in one of those moods today. You know the mood we all sometimes get into where you feel like you should pre-warn every single person you come in contact with that you might at some point feel compelled to bite their heads off? That is me today — and I hate it. But I often find that I can blog my way out of this feeling…and I am hoping today is no exception….

As a trolled around the webs looking for some inspiration and and a thing to put me in a better mood, I came across all this….

And it is certainly working – at least a little.  This is a public art installation called bloom  that was done in the Massachusetts Mental Health Center (MMHC) in Boston in 2003.

The building has since be demolished (and I not sure if it has been replaced), but before it went away, artist Anna Schuliet to help memorialize it by installing over 28,000 potted plants and flowers through its corridors.

Anna was struck, after an initial tour of the facility, with the lack of life and color in the building and the installation was created to respectfully infuse a new hopefulness.  The flowers that were brought in would fill almost every square foot of the MMHC including corridors, stairwells, offices and even a swimming pool. The public was invited for a limited 4-day viewing where they could reflect on the 90+ year history of the building and hopefully enjoy the optimism of re-birth.

Words left by a former patient in a guestbook for Bloom:  

“My mother told me, 36 years ago, ‘Hang on. They’ll find a cure, I was suffering alone until I came to MMHC. And today… oh so grateful…beyond any words, so grateful. Lives and sufferings have been redeemed here… Today, we flourish.” 

another entry…

“I walked through Bloom with a close friend of mine who has spent a great deal of time inside similar hospitals. He was close to tears and repeated said he felt the desire to jump into the flowers, sum bold for the freedom and the celebration of his own growth and healing. We recognized that Bloom brought beauty and wonder to what has always been an inherently taboo subject matter.”

I think I need to go buy myself some flowers – they clearly have magical powers – and it is the first day of spring after all.

Yesterday we got another foot of snow at my house….(which I think is playing into my growly mood)….so I am going to build on the smile this put on my face and head over to the flower shop.

images found via this is collossal.  more information at bloom.