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Jamie McCoy

Daily Practice – Day 1

I decided to do sketches of plants and turn them into postcards that the featured plant might send on that day. Here is day 1.

Topic 2: Plant communities and communication

For my second topic, I am going to stick in a similar vein with where I was on topic 1, looking at plants. I think I will dig into the communities these plants form, and look into how those communities are structured, what analogs to communication they have, and consider plant “expression.” Not sure exactly where this will go, but that’s my jumping off point.

Postmortem and Bibliography

I found this project to be interesting and surprising. When I was assigned “gardens” as a topic, I was excited but also hesitant. I wasn’t sure how I was going to approach gardens from a critical lens. After a couple false starts down different paths, I found an exploration into native species, invasive species, and rewilding to be a generative topic for me. I enjoyed thinking of different ways to communicate ideas that I learned from my research. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed researching gardens and nature. I had a lot of fun reading about the different plants, rewilding efforts around the world, and controversy about how we think of plants and nature. For a complete bibliography, see below.

The feedback I received on my atlas was generally positive. The biggest piece of constructive feedback was that the second piece in my diptych, the one about native flowers and plants, was not developed. I completely agree — it was the one I had thought about much less, and it didn’t fully fit into my overall theme or visual language. Since sharing my work with the class, I have done a revision on that piece in order to make it fit more with the visual language and to incorporate more thoughtful text into the image. I’m not totally sure that it’s all the way there, but I feel that it is much closer. Here are the two final pieces, and a link with thumbnails and an appendix below:

Link to the atlas: https://bubble-nemophila-4cd.notion.site/Garden-Atlas-b5907c31acea4750b6827b12ab98e1c8

Balancing the research and the experimentation was challenging. I dug into the research and had so much fun with it that I didn’t start experimenting soon enough. I really loved the experimentation once I began, and next time I will begin this process much sooner. I can see how the research and the experimentation could really exist as a conversation, and I am excited to attempt that mode in the future.

I think that my guide did a reasonably good job of following the prompt. My lens through which I presented the topic was the lens of the plants. I was attempting to have the plants give some advice, so in that sense I suppose it is usable. And my hope is that it brings to light some of the complicated — and maybe misguided — ways that we think about different plant species. I hope it also helps people notice the plants around them more, even the unassuming plants.

One thing that I could have developed further is the audience. I had not considered the possibility that the plants would be communicating to each other, and I thought that was a really interesting suggestion that might be fun to play with.

 

Bibliography

Beveridge, Ross, et al. “From wastelands to waiting lands.” City, 26:2-3, 281-303. 2022. DOI: 10.1080/13604813.2022.2040200

Kumar, Rishi. “Nature Does Not Exist.” Farmer Rishi, June 19, 2021, https://farmerrishi.com/blogs/farmer-rishi/nature-does-not-exist

Lawton, Philip et al. “Natura Urbana: The Brachen of Berlin.” The AAG Review of Books, 7:3, 214-227. 2019. DOI: 10.1080/2325548X.2019.1615328

Nugent, Ciara. “Take a Walk on the Rewilding Side.” Time. September 13, 2019. https://www.scribd.com/article/433010469/Take-A-Walk-On-The-Rewilding-Side

Rivera, Fernando O. “Urban Wilderness: Rewilding our Concrete Jungles.” Crit, no. 88, 2021, pp. 66-69. ProQuest, http://proxy.library.nyu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Furban-wilderness-rewilding-our-concrete-jungles%2Fdocview%2F2546190734%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D12768.

Sturgeon, Amanda. “Rewilding: Stepping Back to Take Action.”  Architecture Australia, July 2022. https://architectureau.com/articles/rewilding-stepping-back-to-take-action/#:~:text=Economically%20driven%20development%20has%20left,help%20our%20natural%20systems%20recover.

Westrem, Scott D. “Making a Mappamundi: The Hereford Map.” Terrae Incognitae, 34:1, 19-33. 2022. DOI: 10.1179/tin.2002.34.1.19

Woodward, David. “Reality, Symbolism, Time, and Space in Medieval World Maps.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 75, no. 4, 1985, pp. 510–21. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2563109. Accessed 15 Sept. 2022.

Zefferman, Emily P., et al. “Knoxville’s urban wilderness: Moving toward sustainable multifunctional management.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening in Elsevier, September, 8, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.09.002

 

 

Progress on Topic 1 Project: Gardens

Research synopsis

My research on gardens took me down a couple of different paths. In starting at the intersection of gardening and borders, I looked initially very literal place — gardening on maps. I learned about how gardens were represented on maps as the promised land, and how they showed up as part of biblical references on medieval maps. This introduced me to forms of medieval maps, especially mappae mundi, which are beautiful not-so-literal maps of the world from roughly the 13th century.

I then started looking for a more critical lens through which to consider gardening. I started down a path of access and gender roles, but decided that looking at the plants themselves inspired me more. I read about the brachen in Berlin — abandoned spaces that were becoming re-colonized by plants. I read about rewilding efforts (primarily in the UK and Australia). And I read about native vs invasive species.

Work progress

I started out making some botanical sketches and map sketches, hoping to make a plant-centric mappa mundi. On my walks, bike rides, and runs around Chicago, I started paying attention to the plants I saw, both in gardens and outside of them. As I began with making map sketches, I didn’t find that path to be terribly generative. I wanted to figure out what this thing I was making was actually helping someone do. I then went out and did some sidewalk rubbings, because I remembered interesting places where weeds were growing up in the cracks in the pavement. I decided to turn these rubbings into little maps/survival guides from the plants perspective.

This is the first (not quite complete yet) survival guide: How To Survive on the Invasive Species List (and like it). It started with a rubbing, and then was illustrated with the emphasis on the weeds, not on the human/built environment. Then there are captions around the weed illustrations like “they can’t get you down when you’re already flat” etc. Aesthetically, I tried to make it look gritty and rough, befitting a patch of cracked pavement, without looking muddy. I’m not quite sure I nailed that aesthetic. I do like the way this is going, and would like to do some more with more sidewalk rubbings.

I’d also like to look at some of the other non-weed plants. I was thinking about doing a spread on some native species that are part of “rewilding” efforts. I took these pictures on an evening bike ride. It struck me as ironic that these “wild”/”rewilded” plants are almost universally behind a fence. I also think they’re really beautiful, yet they’re rarely the ones that people choose to have in their garden. I’m not sure what direction I want to take this one. Whether I do something like “How to Thrive As America’s Last Top Model” or “How to Survive the ‘Wilderness’ That’s Behind Bars.”

 

Just a sketch

Not loving it yet, but just doing some sketches today along Lake Michigan of some yet to be identified wildflowers and some prickly pears. I will figure out how to incorporate some sketches into my map.

Form for Gardens Project

I will be making a map of sorts for exploring my topic, and an accompanying exploration kit.

I will be focusing on the plant life — wildflowers, trees, etc — that are found in and around Chicago. A map helps people navigate, explore, find things, locate themselves and other things, orient oneself, and capture a moment in time. Some maps include transportation routes, trade routes, and points of interest. Mappe mundi, a form of medieval map, also include history, mythology, different animals/species/peoples, and are not terribly focused on literal locating of things.

I will be leaning into the navigating, exploration, and orientation aspect. I want to make a map that might help someone orient themselves in the world of the diverse plant species that surround them. I’d like to help them explore these plants, become interested in them in order to build appreciation, and ultimately care enough to help protect them.

In making this map, I will be  subverting the focus on precise location and finding things. I don’t want people to be able to use it to specifically locate anything, I would like them to be exploring instead. Instead of focusing on the more typical built environment or on humans’ points of interest, I want to focus on non-human elements. I am not sure yet what metaphors I will be employing.

In making this map, I will need to do some exploring myself. I will put together a “kit” for this exploration and will document that as part of my project.

Interview: Wonderland Project

** Due to scheduling gymnastics, I will be conducting my interview on Tuesday, September 27th at 7pm, and will update this post with a summary when it is complete **

Interview subject: Natalie Evans, who is working on the Wonderland Community Project near Woodstock, IL

Stated goals of Wonderland:

  • Building a large scale mutual aid food supply where we can feed 100 families, hopefully in 5 years time.
  • Land restoration: removing invasive species, replanting native spices and reestablishing lost ecosystems.
  • Creating ecological wealth for future generations.
  • Exploring ways to give land back to local Indigenous people.
  • Helping people feel connected to the land and providing a space for people to be outdoors, especially people that don’t have easy or safe access to being in “nature”.
  • Moving slowly, working in collaboration with each other and the land.
Questions for Natalie:
What led you to starting Wonderland? What drew you down this path?
What were some of the ways that you prepared for this project? Some of the hurdles?
How did you choose the location for Wonderland?
I love all of the goals that you shared for your project. Do you consider any to be more important than any others? How do you balance them?
If someone else was interested in starting down this path, what advice would you give them? What would their first steps be?
What are ways that people could serve similar goals if they don’t have access to large tracts of land?
Natalie’s journey toward her project began in earnest roughly a decade ago when she turned to the outdoors for comfort during some stressful moments for her family. At that time, she took many nature walks and started to study urban foraging — looking for edible food in and around Chicago. After finding a community of like-minded individuals, she joined a group of 6 families, 9 adults and 16 kids, to purchase a large chunk of land about an hour from downtown Chicago. The group’s plan is to work with the land to provide food for local families, and safe space for humans of all types (with an explicit focus on people in the queer community) to enjoy being outdoors. They are also focusing on sustainable growing — removing invasive species and replanting native species.
The practical details are not terribly glamorous, but it was clear how much Natalie loved the work. From a human side, they are hoping to build a comfortable composting bathroom facility in the next year. From a plant side, they are hard at work removing honeysuckle, buckthorn, and oriental bittersweet. They are planting oaks, milkweed, onions, bee balm, bundle flowers, ramps, sunflowers, and wood nettles.
She also pointed me toward a few people to do more research into, surrounding the controversy of rewilding: Farmer Rishi, Daniel Vitalis, and Peter Michael Bauer, as well as the blog CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt.com.

Metaphors

One metaphor that Lakoff and Johnson discussed, “time is money,” initially struck me as a little off, or not as universal in my culture as the others. My first reaction was to think “yeah, we say that sometimes, but it’s more about time being a limited resource.” When I turned the page to see “time is a limited resource,” I laughed. I didn’t even think of how closely related “time is money” and “time is a limited resource” really are, and how money, resources, and value are employed in metaphors all over our language. So many of these — “happy is up,” “future is forward/up” — feel so fundamental that it almost doesn’t feel like a metaphor. It FEELS like happy IS up. And I think that’s the point. The feeling of things impacting our language and understanding is powerful — and can also be limiting.

One metaphorical system that is commonly used amongst my friend group is that of pets being children. We refer to them as “fur babies,” dogs go to “doggie daycare,” fancy or expensive kennels are “spas” or “camp.” I think the motivating rationale for this is that many of us do NOT have kids yet, but we do have this special bond with our pets, and we need to take care of them. The deep love, connection, responsibility, and other mix of feelings motivates this connection.

I think that one of the ways that I have somewhat intentionally changed the metaphorical system that I use is when speaking out things and about groups of people as gendered. It is common to hear “she’s a beaut” when talking about things like cars or boats or other objects that one is excited about. This is starting to feel really dated though, and gets into an objectification of women/women as objects system that is deeply problematic. I’m also trying to be more aware of gendered terms for people that are not as inclusive as I’d like to be, like “guys.”

Gardens are commonly discussed as paradise, oases, natural, peaceful, and purity. But sometimes gardens are serious drains on the environment. Some gardens actually decrease biodiversity and encourage the spread of invasive species. They are sometimes far from the “natural” landscape. It might be useful to consider plants inhabitants.