The home where Jane Fulton Alt lived with her husband Howard in Evanston, Illinois, had, like that of so many people, a typical suburban lawn. But with Howard's increasing concern with the climate crisis and the loss of biodiversity, he transformed the space into a native garden with local keystone plants. The urgency of sharing the importance of native gardens became a passionate undertaking for him, and as he radically transformed the lot around their home, he began a campaign of outreach to empower others to join the movement. In 2019, Howard passed away suddenly. Jane had never been a gardener. The overwhelming task of caring for the garden compounded her grief. With support from other passionate native gardeners, she began to learn the particulars of native horticulture, as well as to photograph the garden. In extending the care that Howard had instilled, she also began to find a new source of creativity and sustenance amid the grieving process.

Still Life: A Photographer's Journey Through Grief and Gardening is the visual document of the garden and the sublime processes of learning and memorialization that constitute it. With texts by photography impresario William Hunt and noted native plants evangelist Doug Tallamy, Still Life is a quiet and moving reflection on loss and renewal. Through this profound and moving document of her garden, Alt extends her photographic meditations on the cycles of life and death, establishing a testament to her late husband and to the potential of creative rebirth working with nature.