Learning from Artemisia.
This is a multicomponent output comprising: a three-channel video, acrylic painting on canvas board, photographs, chairs, tea set, artemisia afra tea, songs, mural and a garden. The starting point for Learning from Artemisia is the artemisia afra plant, a medicinal plant indigenous to many parts of Africa that effectively treats and prevents malaria and can simply be taken as an infusion. The research and resulting multimedia forms of exhibition and knowledge dissemination continue Orlow’s ongoing investigation into plants as political agents, engaging legacies of colonial history and entanglements of Europe and Africa whilst examining the role indigenous knowledge can play in fighting medical and ecological crises. The work brings together different media in order to allow complexity and interconnectedness to be experienced through different senses. See Portfolio Booklet for documentation of research dimensions.
- Submitting institution
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The University of Westminster
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- v388z
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
- Learning from Artemisia was first exhibited at You and I Don’t Live on the Same Planet (curated by Bruno Latour and Martin Guinard), Taipei Biennial, Taipei City, November 21, 2020 – March 14, 2021. Further details in portfolio.
- Brief description of type
- Other: Multicomponent
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month
- November
- Year
- 2019
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Commissioned for the Lubumbashi Biennale, initial research took place in Katanga on artemisia afra and its entanglement with colonial histories. Insights emerged into competing systems of medicinal knowledge and connections between the medical history of malaria with wider histories of colonial extraction. Little was known locally of the use of artemisia infusion as a treatment for malariaj, so the project aimed to spread new knowledge. Fieldwork led to collaboration with a women’s co-operative situated south of Lubumbashi, which was already growing artemisia afra and using the proceeds to fund collective health insurance. Questions of representation and equity of exchange shape the project’s methodology, and also led to the creation of a communal garden and a mural that in turn forged connections between communities, traditional healing practices and scientific research. Meanwhile, Orlow developed the multi-part installation through a new visual and sensory language, engaging with sensitive geopolitical issues and colonial legacies. International exhibition venues include Lubumbashi Biennale (2019), Taipei Biennial (2020), Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein (2020), and others.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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