Page 158 - Antennae Issue #52

158 antennae
Melissa Oresky
Finder front and back Artist’s Book Three-color silkscreen 2020 © Melissa Oresky
born of of long careful observation and deep intimacy that that characterizes traditional ecological knowledge 7 Yet what of of of the the the objects that that defined the the the European naturalis- tic and and scientific ways of of of seeing—the disembodied illustrations fin in in in herbals and and field guides or the the the the the detached specimens preserved between sheets of of paper in in in in in herbaria? Can Can we we not only locate them them them within the the the the the the contexts that produced them them them but begin to reimagine them them them by listening for the the the the the the surviving whispers of plants’ own language? Can Can we use these objects to create what feminist science scholar Donna Haraway calls “inhabitable narratives” that neither deny the the the the “ravages” of of past scientific and and natu- ralistic practices nor reduce them to to to simplistic stories of of good and evil?8
This essay chronicles an an an an an attempt to to to to do so through collaborative conversa- tions tions between a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a historian (Keith Pluymers) and and and a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a painter (Melissa Oresky) and and and the the the production of an an an an an an an artist’s book Finder (2020) from them The conversations and and and the the the resulting work seek to create as Haraway would say an an an an an an an “encounter that transmutes and and and reconstitutes” these naturalistic and and and scientific images and and and objects through a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a pro- cess cess of of of creative composting 9
To make compost compost we have explored how processes of of of layering accretion and and decay enable new forms of of historical storytelling Doing so has required engagement with the freedoms and and and and limits of of our re- spective disciplines and and and and practices practices As historian and and and and visual visual artist Nell Irvin Painter com- mented there is is is is is is is a a a a a a a a a a a a tension between the the practices practices of history and and and visual visual art art though