It was over a year ago that we last trimmed our coconut tree. Among the 15 foot long leaves and green coconuts that rained down from the top of the tree were a few unopened flower sheaths. I looked inside one of them and saw the tightly packed coconut inflorescence. The male and female flowers fit together like a puzzle.
It made me think of The Monolith sculpture by Gustav Vigeland that I saw in Olso, Norway 45 years ago. Starting in 1927 three stone carvers spent fourteen years to transform a 46 foot tall block of granite into Vigeland's concept.
By comparison it takes just 26 months for a coconut flower to mature and break out of the sheath.
We trimmed our coconut tree again this month and I decided to explore my visual recollection of Vigeland's work as seen in a coconut flower. I used my new Canon G10 camera to get a close up of the flowers. In this view the male flowers are already released from the sheath. It is possible to see how tightly they fit together.
Click the coconut flower for a larger view.
There are different opinions about the meaning of The Monolith. We will not be sure if it represents humankind rising towards salvation, the struggle for existence or the transcendence of everyday life. Art should not have only one meaning.As a pre-teen I was moved by Vigeland's many sculptures of children at Frogner Park including the Angry Boy. Time changes our perception of art. The interconnected mass of humanity united together in a column could represent the cycle of life as seen in a coconut flower or a cluster of humans clinging to these Hawaiian islands like opihi.
