The Learned Pig

Art – Thinking – Nature – Writing

Tag: colonialism

  • Bees, Art and Biodiversity

    Bees, Art and Biodiversity

    How can artists improve biodiversity? Philosopher, author and curator Sue Spaid’s 2020 lecture explains (includes video + edited transcript).

  • Mapping Legacies of British Slave-Ownership

    Mapping Legacies of British Slave-Ownership

    Discussing the power of maps with Rachel Lang, chief administrator and researcher at The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership, University College of London.

  • Kenyan Roses for the Kingdom

    Kenyan Roses for the Kingdom

    During a residency in London in 2019, I developed a research and artistic project around the cut rose industry in Kenya. This was linked to on the one hand to the biography of wildlife activist Joan Root and on the other to past British colonial entanglements that are nevertheless still valid and problematic until today….

  • Enemy of the State

    Enemy of the State

    Botanical illustrations of the early modern period (1550-1800), the “big science” of their day, served as documentation of useful plants found in colonial territories. Plants such as tobacco, sugar cane, cinnamon, cotton and tea were but a few items deemed reliable “cash crops” during this era of global economic expansion. Botanical illustrations led the way…

  • Common Salt

    Common Salt

    This is an instrument I have never seen before. A slender dark wooden box, one side opening to become a bellow, pushed back and forth in a solemn rhythm by the hand of the performer. It emits an uncompromising, steady monotone drone, which accompanies a sombre and melancholic chant: ‘This is a la……-ment’. Common Salt…