A story of stinging nettle, a "protection plant". With my family knowledge of herbal medicine and associative memorization within it, I question the words "wild" and "neglected" used for plants that are seen today as future alternative materials and abundant, unused resources.
A play of naming and plant symbolism that can give new forms, limitations and character of contemporary human-plant interaction. Examples of its symbolic use in the environements, beliefs about stinging nettle being a cure for body, and a protection plant - if used in the houses, provide new connotations, intersections and dialogues.
The project and the talk about it were presented at Waag, Amsterdam,
during the Redesigning Textile Industry event (2019);
photo: book Groen en Bloemen in Den Haag (1936), material samples made of stinging nettle.