Weeds

Boiangiu, Gabriela Monica ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6793-0494 (2022) Weeds. [Artefact]

Abstract

The output is an artefact created by Boiangiu, commissioned for the 'Following Threads' exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum. Boiangiu has combined printmaking and stitching to create an artefact which celebrates the medicinal properties of undesirable plants that are often overlooked or treated as 'Weeds'. Research Process: The brief for this commission was to create an artefact exploring the effects of industrialisation on the environment in the Bradford area. Boiangiu produced work based on the Cliff Castle Museum collections, with particular focus on the implications of using pesticides from the Victorian era in current times for the benefit of modern gardening techniques, which are promoting exotic plants and hybridisation. The creative output produced by Boiangiu as a result of this research is an artefact which brings attention to and celebrates the existence of plants that are often overlooked or treated as ‘weeds’. The artefact Boiangiu has created sits alongside images of the herbariums found at Cliff Castle. Research Insights: This research celebrates the beauty and properties of weeds in modern times. ‘Weeds’ brings attention to the fact that a large proportion of undesirable plants have always been at the heart of botanical research, and have curative properties which are still evidenced and trialled today in modern medicine. These plants are also all well-known to be rich food sources for natural pollinators. Dissemination: The work has been shown in the 'Following Threads' exhibition at Bradford Industrial Museum, from 26 February 2022 - 23 January 2023. The project will also form part of an exhibition documentary, which will be created at a later date.

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