Film stills, Amateur Botanist. 2019Amateur Botanist
Single channel HD video. Duration: 5min59sInterview and editiorial on EEP Berlin. https://thecradleamateurbotanist.tumblr.com
Amateur Botanist combines photogrammetry generated 3D models and underwater video footage to imagine and reenact some ways the plants may have travelled and spread around the planet. It hints at imperial expansions and is based on a narrated dialogue in between two non human species. This work explores notions of native and invasive, and tests the waters outside the anthropocentric world view.
Migrations of plants, as well as those of animals and humans, have shaped the planet, and have been affected by complex intertwined sociopolitical factors: wars, expansions, climate change, economy and eating habits. These factors, alongside time, also determine whether a species, an individual or a group get labelled as local, invasive, indigenous, exotic, foreign or native.
Amateur Botanist observes the simplest of botanical migrations- fruits, vegetables and roots floating across bodies of water to reach new lands and spread. A dialogue in between two non human species also includes digitally rendered forms, extending the conversation from human to non human, to digital realm.
Amateur Botanist was commissioned by Centrala Space, Birmingham for Digital Diaspora exchange exhibition, curated by Aly Grimes. Made with support from Lithuanian Culture Council.
©Kotryna Ula Kiliulyte 2023 kotrynaula@gmail.com