Between wet bugs and commons weeds

EDITION

2024, Shortlisted

school

HKU University of the Arts, The Netherlands

school

tessavanraalte.com
@tessavraalte

The past year I wandered and worked in the Rosandepolder, a patch of marshland which was claimed from the river Rhine. I can see the marshland from the window of my home. Although this area has been extensively cultivated by humans, it is considered a natural landscape. As a result, the man-made boundary between humans and nature is blurred and the meaning of ‘nature’ becomes less clear. Through creative, sensory and literary research I investigated this fact and established a close, personal connection with the landscape. I incorporated the materiality of the landscape into the images by making film developer with the common weeds that grow there. I then reused the plant material from the developer to make toner for cyanotype prints. First I worked with plants like Fuller’s teasel, Chervil and Mugwort. As time passed, I noticed a large patch of Japanese Knotweed emerging from the soil. This plant is considered a weed and very invasive, even in green spaces, because it displaces many native plant species and thus can harm the local ecosystem. With this method I intend to enter into a meaningful relationship with a specific ecosystem and provide space for the emerging of a slow and conscious process. Weeds tell us a lot about the history of relations between people and land, yet the term ‘weed’ has many negative connotations as the plants often conflict with human interests. I think our connection to these plants is more meaningful and deeply rooted in our evolution as humans than we might be aware of. In a way, we are related. That’s why I specifically chose to work with these plants; to learn of their inherent value and mend our disregarded kinship to them.