Galinsoga Quadriradiate
2021
Interactive work with handmade paper, seeds, charcoal, silkprint
150*150cm, 30*40cm
Presented in the collective exhibition “Politique du Silence” (Politic of Silence), the project Galinsoga Quadriradiate is an interactive piece of work.
Inspired by a quote from botanist Francis Hallé “Plants are beautiful and useful, discreet and autonomous, silent and of a total non-violence”, Chia decided to work with the most silent plants – the “bad weeds” – in response of the topic of the exhibition.
A text is created to describe a group of oppressed people, chased by some bigger group. A girl from the threatened group ate a piece of edible weed Galinsoga Quadriradiate and thus turned into the plant. As weeds are silent and invisible, she survived from her enemy and her race was able to continue spreading.
The handmade paper bearing the text contains the seeds of Galinsoga Quadriradiate, an edible, medicinal plant usually regarded as weed due to its proliferation ability. Visitors are invited to take a piece of paper that contains the seeds, and plant the paper somewhere else, to help the girl in the text revive her group.
(The Galinsoga Quadriradiate is a plant that exists in the area of the exhibition. No ecological compromises were made.)