23rd October 2024

Not long after it first opened, I enjoyed my first visit to the Eden Project in Cornwall, with its giant transparent geodesic domes protecting plants from warmer parts of the world at the bottom of an old clay pit. I remember being excited to see the plants from which we obtain bananas, coffee, cocoa… close up.

Infinity Blue

Recently we were fortunate enough to make a return visit. We were about to leave when we stumbled across something that hadn’t been there first-time round. Standing nearly 9 metres tall in a big, otherwise empty, space was an installation called Infinity Blue. As we gazed up at one of the world’s largest ceramic structures we were completely captivated by it – we couldn’t quite believe our eyes at first – it was blowing smoke rings!

I photographed the explanatory panels to read later, as the site was about to close. My sense of wonder at the installation only increased when I learnt what had inspired it. It “pays homage to cyanobacteria, one of the world’s smallest living beings. Around three billion years ago, cyanobacteria first developed oxygenic photosynthesis and changed the nature of the Earth. The sculpture is a monument to these vital microscopic beings, who, along with their descendants found in the photosynthesising cells of all green plants, continue to provide the oxygen in every breath we take” (∞ Blue (Infinity Blue) | Eden Project).

In the Genesis story of Creation is written: “Then he commanded, Let the earth produce all kinds of plants… and it was done… and God was pleased with what he saw” (Genesis 1: 11-12).

Ruth Allen