Composting Colonialism: Towards the Radical Garden

Curators Tour 12-1pm Saturday 26 July, all welcome

 Opening Reception 2-4pm Saturday 26 July, all welcome

Samantha Brown (UK), Padraig Cunningham (IRL), Grace Enemaku (IRL), Yvanna Greene (IRL), Louis Haugh (IRL), Marianne Keating (IRL), Elida Maiques (ES), Siobhan McGibbon (IRL), Laura Ní Fhlaibhín (IRL) and Harold Offeh (UK)

Curated by Elida Maiques and Anne Mullee

What does it mean to decolonise the garden? 

Selected works by Irish, Spanish and British artists consider the effects and legacy of colonialism, horticulture and the garden as a status symbol, inviting the audience to explore radical post-colonial horticultural practice and histories. 

Imbued with notions of displacement, class, exile, invasion, appropriation, theft and hunger, the history of gardening and horticulture on the island of Ireland and beyond contains the very recipe of colonisation, from the plantations of both people and forests to the introduction of monoculture food and cash crops.

Through this lens we spy glimpses of horticulture as a colonised/decolonised space, from the proposed rehabilitation of an invasive plant species in Siobhán McGibbon’s installation Making Odd: A Goat, A Bee, A Psyllid, Fungus Knotweed and Me, (2023) to the hubris of the ultimate 18th Century status symbol – the garden with its own grotto-dwelling living hermit – as reimagined by Harold Offeh in this reiteration of his 2012 work Arcadia Reimagined.

An accompanying programme of public engagement events draws on Elida Maique’s expanded community-based practice as founder of The Mermaid Garden Project (2021-present), role as Bray Library Seed Librarian and as facilitator of guerrilla gardening project Edible Bray.

An accompanying publication, A Garden Sampler, contains texts, gardening notes, lore, radical histories and observations drawn from Ireland’s complex relationship to gardening and horticulture.

Image Credit: 
Bulbophyllum refractum, Black and white lantern slide. ca. 1900, courtesy of the National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin / OPW REF:NBG/PHO/ORC/1/4

Supporting Programme:

26/7 - Curators Tour

26/7 - Opening Reception

09/8 - Mask Making Workshop

16/8 - The Bee and the Plant

28/8 - Slow Looking with Donna Carroll

30/8 - MOSS COLLECTIVE

27/9 - Edible Bray Walking Tour

27/9 - Plant + Seed Swap

Mermaid Arts Centre's Gallery is an accessible venue with step-free access via our lift.If you are planning a visit to Mermaid and have special requirements, please contact our Box Office for assistance and information, we will be happy to help.

Call us on 01 272 4030 or email: info@mermaidartscentre.ie