Project

My Grandma is a Rose

Land

The Netherlands

Lenny’s grandmother, Helena Maria Waasdorp-Kienjet, died on September 4, 2002, at the age of 88. Her grave was cleared in 2024. For twenty years, a rosebush stood on her grave, feeding itself with the organic matter in the soil throughout that entire period. Lenny moved the bush to her own garden. With the help of microscopist Rob van Es, she made microscope slides of the vein, root, flower and stem, which she then photographed. The rose and Lenny’s grandmother have become deeply intertwined: “When I see the cell structures of the rose, I’m looking at my grandmother’s DNA.”