Plant apocalypse – Heather Beardsley’s speculative embroidery

Jo Manby

Jo Manby interviews American artist Heather Beardsley having become fascinated by her ‘Strange Plants’ series of hand embroidery on found photographs. Beardsley works in various media to explore scientific aesthetics and visual hierarchies. She has undertaken international residencies at Bartr (Budapest Art Residency), Budapest; KulturKontakt, Vienna; Shangyuan Art Museum, Beijing; Izolyatsia, Kyiv, Ukraine; Rogers Art Loft, Las Vegas and Sirius Art Centre, Ireland. Their discussion encompasses inspirational speculative fiction; use of recycled materials; and the idea of nature reclaiming manmade structures. Also, the obverse, the idea of planting on buildings to enhance the ecosystem and build a greener future.

Jo Manby: What first inspired you to undertake residencies abroad? I noticed that you had a school trip to Europe aged 13. Was this very influential, at such a formative age?

Heather Beardsley: The school trip was the result of a pre-existing desire to travel and experience as many places as possible. I found out when I was 10 that my school offered this trip every summer, but my parents were unable to fund it, so I saved up money from babysitting, holidays and chores to finally be able to go. By the end of the trip, though, I was super disappointed because I felt like I had spent two weeks on buses and trains being shuttled from one place to another to take a few pictures without any real cultural experiences. I love how international residencies allow me to spend longer stretches of time in a new place, making friends with locals, getting a feel for a city, and just existing in a different culture.

JM: I wondered if you could describe some of the excitement and inspiration you must feel when setting out on such a journey, for example to Budapest, Vienna, Beijing, or Ukraine?

HB: Western Europe feels pretty accessible to me, there is so much tourism infrastructure, and I’m a native English speaker with experience of Germanic and Romance languages so communication isn’t usually a big obstacle. Traveling to places in Eastern Europe and Asia, however, where things aren’t designed around tourism and you don’t find as many English-speakers, is a challenge that pushes me to observe more and find new ways of communicating.

The last three residencies I did before everything shut down were only for about a month each, so I spent a lot of time before planning and experimenting with process and material before I left so I could make the most of my time while I’m there. It’s important to find the balance between experiencing the place and getting the work done.

JM: Are you influenced by 20th century films such as The Day of The Triffids? Did you watch this film as a child?

HB: I didn’t watch much sci-fi as a child because my parents aren’t big fans, but I distinctly remember watching the chest-bursting scene from Alien for the first time when I was 7 or 8. I watched a lot of fantasy animated movies, and I still relate a lot to Miyazaki’s films, especially Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.

JM: Do you read sci-fi / speculative fiction? Thinking of the idea of plants taking over the world, I was looking at Amazon genres for books: Post-apocalyptic Fiction, Alien Invasion Fiction, Genetic Engineering Fiction.

HB: I have been reading a lot of speculative science fiction the last couple of years, though not usually specifically plant-invasion stories. I like that science-fiction, like art, can emotionally engage people in political, ethical and scientific discussions, by embellishing, by taking things to fantastical extremes. Last year, I read the first book in a three-part series called The Rampart Trilogy by M.R. Carey, that takes place in a dystopia where plants are genetically modified to thrive in harsh environmental conditions and grow uncontrollably in sunlight. Humans are forced to live in small, isolated communities since transportation and communications networks have been destroyed, and very little technology remains since it isn’t possible to reproduce and distribute it.

I also love Ray Bradbury’s short stories, especially The Martian Chronicles, as well as Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower and Dawn. Sci-fi television shows and movies are also an important source of inspiration because of the visual language added to the themes. Alex Garland’s film Annihilation is one of my favorites, the way he visually represents mutation and self-destruction is as beautiful as it is horrifying.

JM: Are you interested in bioethics? Do you study the scientific aspects of, for example, invasive species or genetic modification of plants?

HB: Yes, but my knowledge doesn’t extend beyond a pop-science understanding of these issues. These are clearly very complicated issues with a lot of nuances to them, and I never feel qualified to speak on things from a scientific perspective. I am more interested in sparking curiosity and asking questions relevant to how humanity sees and interacts with the natural world. That is what good speculative science fiction does, makes people think about where technology is going and what the possible outcomes could be.

JM: How important a role does the ethical / political aspect of eco-science play in your work and your artistic processes?

HB: While it’s something I am clearly thinking about, I don’t know that it necessarily has played a large part in the process of creating my work. In my art making I am always trying to be more conscious about consumption and the amount of waste that I produce, but not necessarily to the point of taking a political or ethical stand. I make use of recycled or second-hand materials, such as used linens, books, photographs, and cigar boxes, but that was the case before I was as concerned with these issues. Like most artists I know, I’ve always hoarded interesting objects, they can carry a weight and context to them that I enjoy playing with. Upcycling does make me feel good from an ethical standpoint, but I do also buy supplies and I don’t think it is unethical to make art from entirely new materials.

JM: Can you describe how important the role of paper is in your work?

HB: I clearly experiment with a lot of different media in my work, but paper is a mainstay because of its versatility, ubiquity and affordability. When I was studying, that was considered a taboo, acknowledging that you were letting economic concerns dictate the direction or form that your work took was having the wrong priorities. Working with paper has allowed me to continue creating work at times when I didn’t have access to a studio space or much money for supplies. A second-hand architecture book purchased for under $10 can serve as the material for dozens of my embroidered photos. Paper is also so light-weight, I have been able to travel with and transport works affordably, allowing more opportunities for making and exhibiting work. When I did a Fulbright grant in Vienna in 2016, I wasn’t given any budget for materials or international shipping, so I made a series of embroidered maps on cotton paper that I was able to roll up and bring home in my suitcase.

JM: With the paper cut outs – do you do the whole thing freehand, with no drawing out first? It looks so spontaneous (for example Strange Plants, Norfolk, white gel pen on drafting film – did you outline freehand and then cut round the white outline?)

HB: For those drawings, I drew out the architectural elements before because I wanted them to feel precise and organized, in contrast to the sprawling plant life. The fungi and flora in my drawings are drawn freehand, partially because I want it to feel random and spontaneous, but it also keeps this detailed, time-consuming work from becoming too tedious since I am continuously making decisions instead of following a set plan. The same thing is true when I embroider plants, I have a basic idea where things will go, but from there I let them grow and take on their own life.

JM: I love your videos of the crystals growing up photographs of buildings. Have you shown these in a gallery at all? Are they artworks in themselves, or more of an experiment?

HB: I haven’t shown them in a gallery yet because they are still in such an experimental stage. In their current state I see them as a proof of concept, I now know that the process works, and I have a better understanding of the proportions necessary to get the desired effect. However, I think the production value needs to be higher before I would want to show them in a more professional context. I don’t have experience working with time-based media, and I haven’t had access to the necessary equipment to increase the quality of the videos, but I hope I will be able to figure out a way to do so in the future. 

JM: Are you interested in taxonomies and hierarchies of plants? For example, the way that some plants are characterized as invasive monsters, others as worthless weeds that live on waste-ground, and others still as benign plants capable of mitigating climate change?

HB: It certainly demonstrates an incredibly anthropocentric view of the world, attributing value solely based on harm or utility posed to humanity. There is something very bold about humans labeling any other species as “invasive”.   Strange Plants plays with the question of invasive species, have plants invaded our cities or is this just a necessary rebalancing or correction of over-industrialization.

JM: Do you think that this is quite typical human behaviour, to endow plants with personalities almost, a kind of anthropomorphism?

HB: Yes, we anthropomorphize everything, not only plants and animals, but also inanimate objects. I’ve read that psychologists think this is something innate in human psychology, which makes sense because we see children do this more than adults.

JM: What do you think of the possible future scenario of cyborg plants / part plant, part machine?

HB: I’ve never read anything about that possibility, but I’m not a scientist or engineer. I suppose hydroponic systems are a bit of a plant machine hybrid though. I got a little one recently just for growing herbs, and it’s amazing how much better and faster the plants sprout and grow than the ones I plant in soil outside. I don’t know what the environmental impact of producing the chemical nutrients are, but it uses a lot less space and water than traditional agriculture, so I’m not surprised it’s becoming more popular.

JM: Are you interested in the contrasts between man living in harmony with nature (for example, using plants for their healing properties) and against nature (for example, deforestation)?

HB: I am, but I also think there’s a tendency to romanticize people living in harmony with nature that ignores the harsh realities and slim margins for error that requires. My dad loves watching shows on the Discovery channel about people living off the grid in places like Alaska, and while I respect it, I wouldn’t want to devote so much of my time and energy to just surviving. I am intrigued to a greater extent by the middle areas, ways to live more sustainably within our current frameworks through things like micro-gardening, greywater filtration systems and solar panels.

JM: What do you think of current trends towards incorporating trees and other plants into contemporary architecture projects?

HB: I think it’s valuable as a way to combat climate change, while also being good for our psychological well-being.  Studies show that spending time in nature helps improve mental health, so having spaces within cities where nature in accessible to people who aren’t able to leave the city often is crucial. What is concerning about this trend is that wealthy districts tend to have many more green spaces than low-income ones. I’ve read that this can lead to a temperature differential of up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit from the richest to poorest neighborhoods in the same city. Rooftop gardens on fancy skyscrapers located on a riverfront or next to a beautiful park are aesthetically pleasing and look great in magazines, but if the goal is truly to make cities cooler, more of these projects need to be centered in the communities that need them most.

JM: Do you believe that our planet can be redeemed by nature reclaiming what mankind will probably have destroyed in a few centuries’ time?

HB: I don’t know that redemption is the right word, for me that sounds like attributing morality to the planet.  Obviously, the planet can survive without us while, regardless of what tech billionaires say, I’m skeptical we can survive without it. Mainstream discussions of pollution and climate change tend to take a very anthropocentric view though, conflating the end of human civilization with the end of the world. We’ve changed the meaning of the word environment to something that is separate from us, rather than something that we are always surrounded by and are a part of. 

An artwork from an exhibition I was in at Science Gallery Detroit called “Scope: Theatre of Collaborative Survival” by Elizabeth Hénaff, Heather Parrish, and Léonard Roussel examined micro-organisms from the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY. For decades industrial waste has contaminated this waterway, damaging the lifeforms that previously inhabited it. Yet, this contaminated environment has proven fertile for these new micro-organisms that would be destroyed by environmental cleanup efforts. It’s a fascinating ethical question, whether to restore environments we’ve previously decimated when that is further destroying new life forms that have adapted to the harsh conditions?

JM: Can you say a bit about your forthcoming residency at Pier-2 Art Center, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan?

HB: I hope it actually gets to happen! I was originally supposed to go in August 2020, then it was rescheduled for September of 2021, now it is tentatively scheduled for next fall. When I applied in spring 2019, I wanted to use the residency to scale up a series of cyanotypes I’ve made using recycled plastic food packing. Taiwan is obviously a small island nation, so ocean pollution is of great concern, and they are also one of the only nations I know of that has banned all single-use plastic.

It might be an interesting opportunity to try to make something that reflects on different cultural reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan was one of the first countries to go into a full lock-down, and they still maintain most of their restrictions now. I am also scheduled to do the La Box residency at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art in Bourges, France, next spring, and I am excited to use that opportunity to scale up the sculptural elements of my Strange Plants series, sculpting my plants growing over architectural models of the city.

Heather Beardsley’s residency at La Box at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art de Bourges in France is from February to April 2022, and she has an exhibition entitled ‘A Dream of Strange Cities’ at Artspace in Richmond, Virginia in April 2022.