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MAKING ODDKIN WITH JAPANESE KNOTWEED continues McGibbon's exploration into multi-species futures through the world of Xenophon. This alter-imaginary is populated by Xenothorpians, a fluid species that commune and mutate with living and non-living entities to adapt to the Anthropocene. Their
hybridisations provide a backdrop from which new stories emerge- a satirical approach to the problem of humans.
The title of the exhibition draws on Donna Haraway's approach to Making kin, emphasising the necessity to enlarge our capacity to care and nurture relations with the odd and unexpected and company we keep. The works reveal the artist's personal exploration into the complexities of living well with the unkempt edges of the garden, brimming with creatures
and invasive species. The work considers the problem of pesticides and species supremacy, centring on the removal of Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant that reduces species diversity, alters wildlife habitats and causes structural damage to human properties.
The exhibition reveals an expansive narrative that re-thinks human-nature relations. Through an experimental merging with the garden, the artist becomes Xenothorpain, hybridising with the plants, insects, stones and tools. From this multi-species ontology, the world is activated
through the vision of the Aphalara itadoria, an insect native to Japan that only eats the sap of Japanese knotweed and is used as a biological control agent in parts of Europe.
The exhibition presents a series of new installations, integrating drawing, traditional Japanese textiles and sculptural installations in which the lines between bodies, objects and actions mutate. The works provide access points to focused strands of research in radical botany, plant spirit shamanism, permaculture, and queer and multi-species ecologies that informed McGibbon's relations with the garden. The artist explores where these approaches clash and overlap, in an effort that is equally earnest and flawed. Using humour McGibbon acknowledges the difficulty in shedding her anthropocentric bias and to a certain extent, her
actions are derailed by her propensity to eat her problems.
Narrative elements of hybridity are further communicated through material storytelling. Multi-species materials are integrated throughout the exhibition, articulating the artist's
experience and entanglements in the garden. 'With-stone' cast from saliva, Japanese knotweed oil, rainwater and fat, re-imagines a stone used to secure weed mat, in an installation infused with plant spirit shamanism. Textiles created with shibori, a traditional
Japanese resist-dyeing, merges blood, urine and plant dyes to create patterns symbolic of Japan's appreciation of imperfection. The artist's approach to material and symbols is a testament to her encounter with the garden.
Japanese Knotweed is an invasive species. It spreads rapidly, reducing species diversity and altering the habitat for wildlife. Once established, the plant is extremely difficult to remove. The plant should be respected and perhaps feared. This project does not endorse the foraging
of Japanese knotweed because of its potential to propagate from small cuttings. However, if you have Japanese knotweed on your land and don't intend to eradicate it with herbicides, this exhibition may offer insights into cohabitation.
hybridisations provide a backdrop from which new stories emerge- a satirical approach to the problem of humans.
The title of the exhibition draws on Donna Haraway's approach to Making kin, emphasising the necessity to enlarge our capacity to care and nurture relations with the odd and unexpected and company we keep. The works reveal the artist's personal exploration into the complexities of living well with the unkempt edges of the garden, brimming with creatures
and invasive species. The work considers the problem of pesticides and species supremacy, centring on the removal of Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant that reduces species diversity, alters wildlife habitats and causes structural damage to human properties.
The exhibition reveals an expansive narrative that re-thinks human-nature relations. Through an experimental merging with the garden, the artist becomes Xenothorpain, hybridising with the plants, insects, stones and tools. From this multi-species ontology, the world is activated
through the vision of the Aphalara itadoria, an insect native to Japan that only eats the sap of Japanese knotweed and is used as a biological control agent in parts of Europe.
The exhibition presents a series of new installations, integrating drawing, traditional Japanese textiles and sculptural installations in which the lines between bodies, objects and actions mutate. The works provide access points to focused strands of research in radical botany, plant spirit shamanism, permaculture, and queer and multi-species ecologies that informed McGibbon's relations with the garden. The artist explores where these approaches clash and overlap, in an effort that is equally earnest and flawed. Using humour McGibbon acknowledges the difficulty in shedding her anthropocentric bias and to a certain extent, her
actions are derailed by her propensity to eat her problems.
Narrative elements of hybridity are further communicated through material storytelling. Multi-species materials are integrated throughout the exhibition, articulating the artist's
experience and entanglements in the garden. 'With-stone' cast from saliva, Japanese knotweed oil, rainwater and fat, re-imagines a stone used to secure weed mat, in an installation infused with plant spirit shamanism. Textiles created with shibori, a traditional
Japanese resist-dyeing, merges blood, urine and plant dyes to create patterns symbolic of Japan's appreciation of imperfection. The artist's approach to material and symbols is a testament to her encounter with the garden.
Japanese Knotweed is an invasive species. It spreads rapidly, reducing species diversity and altering the habitat for wildlife. Once established, the plant is extremely difficult to remove. The plant should be respected and perhaps feared. This project does not endorse the foraging
of Japanese knotweed because of its potential to propagate from small cuttings. However, if you have Japanese knotweed on your land and don't intend to eradicate it with herbicides, this exhibition may offer insights into cohabitation.
