Nothing is More Fragile Than Growth is a project that explores the experience of navigating inner limits in the pursuit of understanding individual and couple identity. In a social landscape saturated with public discourse on abuse, extreme ideologies, and racist or misogynistic attitudes, turning inward becomes both an act of self-therapy and a critical examination of the self. This introspection serves as an echo chamber, reflecting personal struggles and societal critiques simultaneously.
Being human often involves confronting failure, acknowledging abusive behaviors, admitting guilt, giving up, and discovering ways to survive. Growth sometimes arises from negative experiences, from expansive yet abusive tendencies, from superficial appearances, and from what obscures rather than reveals truth. Unchecked, limitless growth inevitably leads to collapse and disaster.
These poems delve into this inquiry, drawing inspiration from the world of plants, which offer an example of resilience and adaptation. Plants embody a realm free of betrayal and falsehood, a space where healing takes place and fragility and vulnerability are expressed and understood.
One of poetry's greatest powers is its ability to support life—to accompany those who lack other means of confronting the challenges of daily existence. In doing so, poetry strengthens human identity, enriches personality, and, under certain conditions, even facilitates healing.
The project is part of the subthemes Re-imagining identity through poetry, Healing Narratives - Poetry, Mental Health and Collective Trauma.
Author
Angelica Stan
Angelica Stan made her publishing debut in 1999 with the poetry volume Boomerang, after winning a competition at Cartea Românească publishing house. She subsequently published the poetry collections Testul Umbrei (2005), Clone (2009), Spații Intermediare (2016), Produse Miraculoase (2018), O Femeie Urmărește Ploaia de la Etajul Opt (2020), Exponate de Artă Brută (2022), and Nimic mai Fragil decât Creșterea (2024). Her poetry has also appeared in magazines such as Poesis International, Vatra, Matca, Tomis, OptMotive, O Mie de Semne, Revista de Povestiri, Convorbiri Literare, România Literară, Luceafărul, Calende, and Ramuri. In addition, she made her debut in short prose in 2016 with publications in the magazine Iocan. In 1987, she won the Grand Prize for Poetry at the Nicolae Labiș national competition.
Her literary activity includes collaborations in various cultural and interdisciplinary projects. In 2024, she participated in Space in the Light of Poetry, an audio-video installation and performative reading within the Night of Museums festival. In 2023, she was a tutor for the creative writing workshop Mornin' Poets, she contributed to the artistic installation Omission Possible: s[a]it{life} at Omnia Hall in 2022, coordinated by Mutual Loop (Holger Lang / Martina Tritthart), in collaboration with the National Dance Center Bucharest and the Austrian Cultural Forum Bucharest. That same year, she participated in Reinitiation Through the Landscape, a mixed project combining text and image, showcased at Romanian Design Week – Digital Show Case. In 2021, her graphic work Footprints was exhibited within the Fragile Identities project organized by the National Network of Museums in Romania, ARCUB, and BRD Scena Residence. Also in 2021, she collaborated with Andra Panait on Togetherness, a co-generative project presented at Romanian Design Week, 25Mp.
Angelica Stan is also an architect and urban planner, and a university professor at the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest. She teaches courses and workshops on topics such as urban morphology, the language of cities, suburban dynamics, the history and theory of landscapes, and participatory urban form. She is the author of several books and manuals on urban planning and landscape theory, a co-editor of numerous collective volumes, and the author of articles published in international journals.
