Description:
This project investigates the distinction between native versus invasive species as determined by Artsdatabanken (The Species Database), a Norwegian scientific organization. In 2012 Artsdatabanken published an updated edition of the Black List. This list names nearly 2,500 species of flora and fauna as invasive in Norway and categorizes their threat levels from Very High to Unknown. The cultural bias that plays into the scientific criteria and discourse around how, why, and by whom these plants are considered to be invasive are the project’s focus.
Semantically the use of such terms as invasive and native are loaded. The direct correlation between human population shifts that occur at politically determined borders, rather than those determined by biomes, and the introduction vectors of these species is an area that warrants illumination. The reasons for identifying alien species vary from their being unwelcome because of their competitiveness with native flora and fauna or those cultivated for commercial or aesthetic purposes.
I collected, studied, and researched the 168 plants that are described as invasive in northern Norway.
This particular plant is known locally as the Tromsö Palm, in english Giant Hogweed, or Heracleum mantegazzianum. It has extremely toxic sap if it comes in contact with skin. Originally from Iran, it was brought in to beautify gardens because it can grow up to 20 feet tall and 6 feet wide with enormous flowers. The plant also spreads very quickly and has been deemed as highly invasive. I set a large white sheet up in front of a live plant growing in a field to catch its cast shadow in the afternoon. The idea of this species and its threat and by proxy the immigrants who are represented by the subtext of terms like invasive species.
Title:
Blacklisted: A Planted Allegory (Icon)
Year:
2012
Media:
Printed postcard, wood, acrylic paint
Dimensions:
8” x 10”
