INVASIVE PIGMENTS AND NOVEL HUES: THE SPECTRUM OF AN URBAN PLANT COMMUNITY

Abstract

The traditional native-nonnative dichotomy loses some of its utility when faced with the wild plant community of Brooklyn, New York. Hailing from around the world, these tough, adaptable plant species have co-evolved with dense human populations, unintentionally cultivated to do the tough work of greening the rough edges and unmaintained corners of a cityscape that is always in flux. Although the feral green spaces of Brooklyn may seem unremarkable in the context of our botanical gardens, city parks, and well-tended street tree pits, they provide their own set of ecological and cultural benefits that belie their status as lowly weeds. My ongoing Invasive Pigments project is designed to connect city dwellers with the evolving community of spontaneous plants that share our street verges, park edges and vacant lots. Through a tactile, participatory and aesthetically driven process, my project reframes the urban landscape, shifting the focus from concrete buildings and heavily maintained gardens to the ubiquitous but easily ignored spontaneous greenery that grows in and among them. By hunting for spots of wild, plant-derived color in the streets of Brooklyn, and processing that color through a historically-based, artisanal process, I reveal a new layer of the city’s structure, highlighting the novel plant community that has woven itself into the core of the urban ecosystem.

Keywords

Art / Vacant Land / Weeds / Pigments / Urban Landscape

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press