Open Lab: Plant/Lives

We are creating a map of Darat al Funun’s garden. The garden has plants that date back to Roman times – some are local, and some are also global. When the first houses here were built in the 1920s, in what is now the art foundation, an officer of the British Army brought Eucalyptus from his native Australia. The khoshkhash in front of one of the houses was a gift from the Palestinian city of Haifa. Radishes on the roof of the Headquarters were planted by Egyptian gardener Rida, as they connect him to home.

The garden creates a micro-ecosystem: white mulberries fall to the ground and are eaten by insects, in turn migratory birds feed on these grubs, and local cats take advantage of the birds. As well as containing narratives of human and plant mobility, of global empire and individual journeys, the garden can also be used to foretell the future of the plant world. How will the edible plants in the garden adapt to the escalating water crisis and climate changes that are already affecting the region?

During two research trips to Jordan, through workshops, conversations, and garden walks with local people, we collected botanical information and personal stories on some of the garden’s edible plants. We have also gathered insights on staple Jordanian crops from farmers involved in large-scale agriculture, as well as smaller permaculture projects, and scientists whose work explores the impact of rising temperatures and lessening precipitation.

Our map will contain all these layers of information, considering the present state of the edible plants, reaching back into the colonial history when Darat’s garden was first established, and forwards into the future, to consider challenges that might be faced as a result of the climate crisis, including human and plant displacement. Here in the Lab, we present our research so far.

We intend for the works shown here, and our final map, to act as a starting point for further conversation, knowledge sharing, and solidarity, in relation to issues that concern us all locally and globally.