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I’m proposing to create a mural that ties my personal ancestral history with my local Wisconsin identity, while also addressing the fact that I am not native to the place that I call home.
The Aquatic Forget-me-not is a plant species native to the swamps and woodlands of Denmark and Germany, but is also found Wisconsin, where it thrives as an invasive species. The spread of invasive species and the practice of colonialism are related, seeing as how both plant and person have made their way from Europe to North America, quickly crowding out native plant species and peoples. In their new habitat the Forget-Me-Not as well as my Danish and German ancestors were able to “form large monocultures, especially in situations where [they were] near a water source….in turn reducing the number of native plants [and peoples].”[1]
I conveyed the plant’s ability to spread along water-ways by portraying an anthropomorphic figure of the Forget-me-not painting over a view of Lake Michigan; the floral pattern creeping over the painted areas of the landscape. Here the Forget-Me-Not takes on an offensive role as something that asserts its place by rendering that which pre-dated it as forgotten.
[1] Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Invasive Species: Aquatic Forget-Me-Not
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Invasives/photos/index.asp?mode=detail&spec=171
Paragraph.
The Aquatic Forget-me-not is a plant species native to the swamps and woodlands of Denmark and Germany, but is also found Wisconsin, where it thrives as an invasive species. The spread of invasive species and the practice of colonialism are related, seeing as how both plant and person have made their way from Europe to North America, quickly crowding out native plant species and peoples. In their new habitat the Forget-Me-Not as well as my Danish and German ancestors were able to “form large monocultures, especially in situations where [they were] near a water source….in turn reducing the number of native plants [and peoples].”[1]
I conveyed the plant’s ability to spread along water-ways by portraying an anthropomorphic figure of the Forget-me-not painting over a view of Lake Michigan; the floral pattern creeping over the painted areas of the landscape. Here the Forget-Me-Not takes on an offensive role as something that asserts its place by rendering that which pre-dated it as forgotten.
[1] Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Invasive Species: Aquatic Forget-Me-Not
http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Invasives/photos/index.asp?mode=detail&spec=171
Paragraph.
