Podcast extra: Culture Dose views Flowers and FruitPodcast extra: Culture Dose views Flowers and Fruit
All In The Mind
As mentioned in yesterday's program, here’s a taste of one of the Culture Dose sessions called 'Joy in everyday life'. Head to our program webapge for a brief meditative exercise with Katherine Boydell from the Black Dog Institute, then Access Programs Producer at the Art Gallery of NSW, Danielle Gullotta, guides the viewer through the painting.
23:59•9 Aug 2020
Finding Joy in Everyday Life Through Art and Mindfulness
Episode Overview
- Gentle body scan and breathing exercise helps bring attention into the present moment.
- Close observation of a still life painting encourages noticing detail, colour and light.
- Everyday objects like flowers, fruit and coffee can become small sources of joy and ritual.
- Sensory experiences such as smells and textures are highlighted as supports for wellbeing.
- Arranging simple items beautifully at home may inspire a greater sense of pleasure and balance.
“We’re here in a moment in time where we smell the freshness, we can feel the life in these objects… that really give us sustenance and joy.”
What drives someone to seek a little more joy in everyday life? This short bonus from All In The Mind offers a gentle pause, using art and mindfulness to help people reconnect with their senses and mood. Host Lynne Malcolm introduces a "Culture Dose" session, part of the Arts on Prescription research program created by the Black Dog Institute and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The focus is simple but powerful: "joy in everyday life".
Professor Catherine Boydell starts with a calming body-based exercise, guiding you to notice "the weight of your body on the chair" and to "let your shoulders be soft". Her slow, grounding instructions aim to settle a busy mind and bring awareness back to the present moment. From there, Access Programs Producer Danielle Gullotta takes over with a close look at Henri Fantin-Latour’s still life, *Flowers and Fruit* (1866).
She asks you to pay attention to tiny details: wilting petals that hint at time passing, heirloom apples placed just outside the basket, and a tray of fruit and coffee that feels "a little precariously placed on the table". These elements become a way to think about balance, ritual and those small domestic scenes that can quietly lift your spirits.
Attendees share their own images of everyday pleasure – kitchen baking, fresh mandarins from a backyard tree, treasured family photos – and one person reflects, "Perhaps I could get some nice things and arrange them nicely like this person has done." The conversation highlights how simple objects can be arranged to bring delight, with Danielle noting that the composition lets "our eyes dance around the triangle" of flowers, fruit and table.
If you're looking for a gentle, sensory reminder that small rituals and simple beauty still matter, this calm, art-filled session might be just the pause you need today.
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