A Cure for Plant Blindness

Abstract

Plant Blindness —a term coined by James Wandersee and Elisabeth Schussler—is the literal ignorance of plants by human beings and their spontaneous preference for animal life. They argue this consists of failure to see, notice or give attention to the plants in one’s life, belief that plants are mere backdrops for animal life, overlooking the importance of plants to human life and misunderstanding of the differing time scales of plant and animal activity.

In this work for Open House, 3rd Tamworth Textile Triennial, I invited Tamworth residents to identify a tree they held dear or considered significant. I asked them to take a frottage (rubbing) around the girth of the tree; to record the species, location, date and the amount of time taken to make the frottage. Finally, I asked them to write why this tree was important to them.

The act of taking a rubbing from a significant tree meant each participant spent time with a tree. The contact between human and plant is recorded with crayon on paper. Rough or smooth, patterned or chaotic, the tree markings are a collaboration between person and plant. The rubbings were made in the Tamworth region, and then posted to my Melbourne studio.

Using screenprinting and natural dyeing techniques, I reproduced a 1:1 scale textile of each frottage. Each cloth specimen was dyed with plant material collected from the same species. Specimens of the species were found in Melbourne (Victoria), Canberra (ACT), Maslin Beach and Goolwa (South Australia). Taking a rubbing in one location, and reproducing the rubbing with dye of the same species growing elsewhere, enacted connections between sites, people and plants. It recorded personal connections to specific trees, and how we connect with, and need, the more-than-human world.

To accompany the dyed and printed tree girths I made a book where images of the textiles along with the information provided by participants was recorded. An antidote to plant blindness, this work connected individual participants to their tree, to trees from elsewhere and finally to visitors to the touring exhibition. Show more