Revolutionary Petunias: Our Roots Deep as Revolt

(German below)

Revolutionary Petunias. Roots Deep as Revolt

Workshop by Anguezomo Nzé Mba Bikoro & Abeni Asante

This workshop focuses on abolitionist herbalist practices and is based on a collective process in Z/KU's garden. Participants identify medicinal plants and create an archival zine-book. The session invites participants to learn about plant histories in revolutionary movements and Black anti-colonial feminist leaders and to reflect on queer botany and holistic practices with plants historically used in times of warfare, migration, disease and grief.

This session is curated and guided through embodied learning by Anguezomo Nzé Mba Bikoro and Abeni Asante. Participants are offered to become co-authors in the visual making of the zine and receive free copies of the collective production. We encourage participants to bring their own favorite texts on botany, visuals about plants and visuals about their historical lineages, which can be created into collage artworks. The session will include cyanotype printing, a technique to create blue-toned botanical images by placing plants on treated paper and exposing them to light.

*the title is in reference to the publication "Revolutionary Petunias" by Alice Walker and David Diop's poem "The Vultures"

BIPOC persons are particularly encouraged to join.

ANGUEZOMO NZÉ MBA BIKORO is a visual artist, writer, somatic body therapist, community cultural worker and curator supporting BIPOC and queer groups using integrative approaches that combines humanistic and abolitionist-inspired methods, de-traumatization tools alongside cognitive behavioural therapy (notably for C-PTSD) and ancestral healing work. Their abolitionist approach is shaped through decolonial embodied practices and awareness of racism, discrimination and gender identity. Their practice honors queer histories and indigenous struggles centering Bakongo Cosmology, Obeah and Orixa practices that empowers communities and shares resources to create tools of safety towards self-awareness & transformation in mental health. Their works on herbalism and ancestral healing often exposes the interwoven colonial histories of migration and ecologies in site-specific spaces to dismantle prejudices and create independent emancipatory tools for liberation, education, and reparation.

ABENI ASANTE combines Afrocentric and gender-expansive perspectives on ecology through visual practice and sound. Abeni lives in Berlin and holds a Master's degree in Ecology and Conservation. Abeni is part of a Black reparations and land justice group, and is also part of a collective building an art-residency space and forest garden near Cape Coast in Ghana. Creating sustainable physical spaces is part of Abeni's African-futurist and abolitionist practice.

This workshop is part of the PLANT STORIES program, running from June - October at ZK/U.

*

German

Revolutionary Petunias. Roots Deep as Revolt

Workshop by Anguezomo Nzé Mba Bikoro & Abeni Asante

With a focus on abolitionist herbal practices, this workshop builds on a collective process in the Z/KU garden. Participants will identify medicinal plants, learn about the histories of plants in revolutionary movements and Black anti-colonial feminist leaders, and create an archive in the form of a zine book. The session invites reflection on queer botany and holistic practices with plants that have historically been used in times of war, migration, illness and grief.

The workshop is curated by Anguezomo Nzé Mba Bikoro and Abeni Asante and will be guided by embodied learning. Participants can contribute to the visual design of the zine as co-authors and receive free copies of the collaborative production. Feel free to bring your own favorite texts about botany or visual material about plants and their ancestral histories, which can be turned into collages. Cyanotype prints are also part of the session, a technique for producing blue-tinted botanical images by placing plants on treated paper and exposing them to light.

*The title refers to the publication "Revolutionary Petunias" by Alice Walker and David Diop's poem "The Vultures"

BIPOC individuals are particularly encouraged to participate.

ANGUEZOMO NZÉ MBA BIKORO is a visual artist, writer, somatic body therapist, community cultural worker and curator. Anguezomo supports BIPOC and queer groups with integrative approaches that combine humanistic and abolitionist-inspired methods and de-traumatization tools with cognitive behavioural therapy (especially for C-PTSD) and ancestral healing. Anguezomo's abolitionist approach is informed by decolonial embodied practices with an awareness of racism, discrimination and gender identity. Anguezomo's practice honors queer history and indigenous struggles and draws on Bakongo cosmology, Obeah and Orixa practices to empower communities and share resources for means of self-knowledge and transformation in mental health. The work on herbal and ancestral healing exposes the interwoven colonial histories of migration and ecology in specific places to dismantle prejudice and create independent emancipatory tools for liberation, education and reparation.

ABENI ASANTE combines Afrocentric and gender-expansive perspectives on ecology through visual practice and sound. Abeni lives in Berlin and has a Master's degree in Ecology and Conservation. Abeni is part of a Black reparations and land justice group, and is also part of a collective building an art-residency space and forest garden near Cape Coast in Ghana. Creating sustainable physical spaces is part of Abeni's African-futurist and abolitionist practice.

This workshop is part of the PLANT STORIES program taking place at ZK/U from June to October.