Assembly of Plants

This workshop is the result of a research residency that the artist Uriel Orlow carried out in the Palácio de Cristal Gardens, to give rise to an interpretation of the political, healing and historical implications of the relationship between humans and plants. It will consist of two connected moments.

The session also counted with the participation of Fernanda Botelho and the Landra project, composed by Sara Rodrigues and Rodrigo B. Camacho.

The practice of the multidisciplinary researcher and artist Uriel Orlow integrates film, photography, drawing and sound and has focused especially on themes such as the residues of colonialism, the spatial manifestations of memory, and the botanical world as a political stage. His work has been exhibited in several internationally recognized institutions, such as Tate Modern (United Kingdom), Palais de Tokyo (France), Kunsthaus Zürich and Center d’Art Contemporain Genève (Switzerland). He has published three monographs — Conversing with Leaves (2020), Soil Affinities (2019) and Theatrum Botanicum (2018) — and currently teaches at the University of Westminster, the Royal College of Art (United Kingdom) and the Zurich University of the Arts (Switzerland).

Fernanda Botelho is a specialist in wild plants, namely in their medicinal and culinary uses. She lived for 17 years in England where she studied Botany, Phytotherapy and Pedagogy, having studied medicinal plants at the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine (1997). She is a collaborator of the Eco-Escolas programme and author of a collection of children’s books, namely “Salada de Flores” (2011), “Sementes à Solta (2013)” and “Hortas Aromáticas” (2016). She also wrote “As plantas e a saúde” (2013), “Uma mão cheia de plantas que curam – 55 espécies espontâneas em Portugal” (2016) and the recently released “Ervas que se comem” (2021). She is co-author of “O meu primeiro Herbário de Plantas Medicinais” (2017) and “Cosmética Natural” (2020). Botelho publishes annually, since 2010, a programme of Medicinal Plants and organizes guided walks and plant recognition workshops at the invitation of various entities. She regularly contributes about medicinal plants to RTP’s television programmes, as well as to several magazines and dedicated websites.

Sara Rodrigues and Rodrigo B. Camacho are interdisciplinary artists and creators of the Landra project, an oak grove and agro-forest under development in a valley at the foot of Serra da Cabreira. In addition to serving as a residence, it is also a center for research and education in regenerative cultures, sustainable energy and non-institutional art. Landra is the name given to the acorns from Minho to Galicia and refers to a culture of subsistence and autonomy, where once the fruits of the oaks offered food to the populations, in addition to improving the land and its ecosystems, year after year.

Photography: Renato Cruz Santos