Touch me not,

Forget me not

 

The human fingers on Mimosa leaves makes them curl, withdraw. Their name relates to shame, shyness and resembling. An organism with flexing muscles also called Touch me not. They briefly recall a name they once had before,Touch me not. Another plant, Myosotis or Forget me not, works well against muscle pain. The muscle memory of its root lingers and reverberates through subtle shivers on its petals for generations. They briefly remember a name they once had before, Forget me not.

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Touch me not and Forget me not are both part of "Systema Naturae" created by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in the 18th century to classify species, plants and minerals by gender, location and renamed Latin names. The two tapestries contain silkscreen prints of photographs taken in botanical gardens in Lisbon and images of the body in contexts of care, combined with embroidery, jute and dyed fabrics. They function both as autonomous works and as part of a performance installation taking place in Portugal this year. The performance uses methods of contact improvisation to employ tropes of hybridity, mimicry and muscle memory to challenge hierarchies and stagnation. The tactile and sensual becomes a spring of resistance and vigor, triggered in the present, moving through time to re-imagine relationalities and heal the bruises of history.

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