The relationship between plants and people is forming the basis for my masters. As an avid gardener, keen organic home vegetable grower and a concern the way the world looks at the natural world, I am interested in investigating this relationship. Many people have lost a link with plants, lost the understanding how much they are part of our lives and also how vital they are for ur survival. From doing a brain storm about the relationship/links between plants and people I came up with the following links between them:
- food - eating & growing, small/self or commercial
- communication - paper, books
- shelter/buildings
- aesthetic - landscape/parks
- medicine
- clothing
- colour - dying of cloth, paper, food
- beauty - internal & external
- support - walking sticks, soles
- symbols - olive branch, mistletoe, emblems -country sports teams, products sales
- transport - canoe - historical
- control - location, plant type
- witchcraft - healing, spells, selected knowledge
- living approaches - biodynamics, organic, biodiversity, living by moon, permaculture, natural garden,
- ethnobotanical
- historical or modern context
- cultural influences
From this initial brain storm I decided that one strand of inquiry for my masters could be to photograph people who have a personal link with plants through a direct contact with plants, such as gardeners, growers, builders. I am interested to additional links that I may not have touch on so far, so please add feedback or your thoughts.