Grantham-Anahita Norouzi Foundation | What is your view on migration… of plants?

Iranian-born Montreal artist Anahita Norouzi took advantage of her month-long residency at the Grantham Foundation for Art and the Environment to complete her reflection on the conflict between hospitality and caution when it comes to plants. migrating to Quebec. His exhibition troubled garden worth a visit to Saint-Edmond-de-Grantham, near Drummondville.

Eric Clement
The Press

The exhibition Troubled garden: study of rooting stems from work on the ecological, cultural and social dimensions of migration issues from the perspective of non-native plants in Quebec. Should plant diversity take precedence? Should we regulate it to protect local plants that are sometimes more fragile? When does an exogenous plant become fully Canadian? What is a “weed”?

These are the questions raised by the exhibition for which art historian Bénédicte Ramade acted as curator.

Bénédicte Ramade believes that we no longer see wild herbs in the same way after seeing this exhibition which recounts the epic of allochthonous plants in Quebec, some of which have the reputation of being invasive species.

Which means that we are often not far from the indictment against so-called foreign plants which suffer the same rejection as illegal immigrants!

The Persian Hogweed

Fascinated by social and political issues, the artist born in Iran looked into the adventure of the Hogweed of Persia – from its Latin name Heracleum persicum – plant of the Umbelliferae family, just like celeriac. Known in Iran for its taste qualities, it is used as a spice (its seeds having been dried and crushed), for example with yogurt, and it is then given the name of golpar. It is known for its healing, digestive or antiseptic powers. The Persian hogweed arrived in Canada by boat after the Second World War and has adapted well to the northern climate.

However, the Persian hogweed is the subject of an eradication plan. Its problem: it is the cousin of the giant hogweed, much more invasive and whose sap causes burns when rubbed against it. “What we forget to say is that the saps of all Umbelliferae, such as celery or carrots, have a photo-toxic effect”, says Anahita Norouzi, who believes that we wrongly put the two cradles in the same basket!

Recalling her walks with her grandmother in the mountains north of Tehran to collect giant hogweed seeds, Anahita Norouzi went in search of the plant and found only one specimen. “It goes to show that the fight we are fighting is hysterical, because we can’t find it everywhere,” says the artist, who reconstructed it with 11 casts that make it possible to distinguish its delicate shape and height.

The exhibition includes the installation All Our Relations. A Persian rug plays the role of a garden next to a television that shows a man mowing down the cursed plant in Britain. It is however this country which favored its expansion by taking it out of Iran in the 19th century.^and century, at the time of colonization, to decorate the apartments of the Court. These images of eradication offend Anahita Norouzi, who believes that the war waged on this plant is irrational. Another video also illustrates the fight being waged against her in Quebec, with drones to spot her.

Rehabilitation

At the entrance to the exhibition, a moment of concentration is essential with an installation that summarizes the research of Anahita Norouzi on the traces of the Hogweed of Persia. A map details his emigration to Europe and America. A photo shows the bottle her grandmother used for pickles with hogweed stalks that look a lot like celery.

The artist did not grow any Hogweed at the Foundation, but it can be admired using augmented reality. It is indeed a beautiful plant. Its inflorescences (or umbels) are reminiscent of the umbelliferae that we come across in the fields of Quebec. Some carrots, celery and fennel have similar umbels. Anahita Norouzi learned, moreover, that Abenakis use cow parsnip leaves to concoct a condiment. She hopes that we will revise the judgment made on the Persian hogweed to welcome it into the Canadian pharmacopoeia and gastronomy.

“It makes you wonder if the First Nations are as intolerant as we are towards species that were first invited, who took their freedom and then, all of a sudden, they are no longer welcome”, launches Bénédicte Ramade. The commissioner acknowledges that giant hogweed is problematic, especially in weakened, polluted ecosystems. It is an “opportunistic” plant which invades in particular the cleared banks of rivers. “But the more diversity there is, the more resistance there will be to their invasion,” she says.

This is a fascinating exhibit on how we deal with nature and by extension immigration issues. It is accompanied by a notebook (offered) which allows non-botanists to fully understand the questions raised, before venturing into the heart of troubled garden. Another great subject to discover at the Foundation, created by Bernard Landriault and Michel Paradis in 2018. Which once again demonstrates the great relevance of the organization.

Until June 26