herbarium cataplasma

laurence aëgerter

Images of a bombing in Gaza with green sprigs, images of collapsed buildings with bunches of thyme or rosemary near the rubble, and of a nuclear explosion with marigold and poppy petals. Healing destroyed landscapes with herbs – this is what the residents of the Oldegalileën-Bloemen neighbourhood in Leeuwaarden did with artist Laurence Aëgerter. Last year Laurence Aëgerter realised a commission from Leeuwarden municipality, a community art project called Herbarium Cataplasma. She and the residents planted a garden with medicinal herbs, and then made medicinal herbal compresses and applied them to the images of disasters as an act of symbolic healing. You can see the results of this special project in the exhibition of the same name in the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden. Aëgerters’ photographs are exhibited for the first time, and are accompanied by a visual documentation of her community art project. Herbarium Cataplasma is open to the public until 10 May 2015.

herbularius simplis medicinae

The Oldegalileën-Bloemen neighbourhood takes its name from the Galilea Convent that was built there in the 15th century. Aëgerter and the residents of the neighbourhood planted a 100 m2 garden of medicinal herbs on the site where this convent once stood. In an accurate reconstruction of the iconic medieval herb garden of the Abbey of St. Gallen in Switzerland, sixteen garden beds were planted with sage, cumin, fennel, rosemary, mint and other herbs. Local people met each other in this herb garden called Herbularius Simplis Medicinae and worked together on growth and the future.

healing plants for hurt landscapes

Aëgerter had a special purpose for these medicinal herbs. She selected 100 existing images of landscapes that have been destroyed by man or nature. Local residents, both young and old, treated these ‘hurt landscapes' with herbs from their garden. They used medicinal herbal compresses (cataplasma in Latin) to perform acts of symbolic healing. In this way, a logged rainforest is made green again through a blend of herbs, and an oil fire is treated with a clump of roots. Some residents used specific herbs for particular disasters based on their medicinal properties, others were led by colours and shapes, or relied on their intuition. Aëgerter photographed the results and made them into a series of photographs and an artist's book. The book Healing plants for hurt landscapes. Cataplasma for 100 years of destructions was designed by Erik Kessels to resemble a newspaper.

laurence aëgerter

Laurence Aëgerter (Marseille, 1972) explores how existing images can be re-interpreted and plays with the tension between original and reproduction. Her photographs, installations and artist's books have been presented in the MAMAC in Nice, FoMu Antwerp, Musée Borély in Marseille, and the Hermitage Museum Amsterdam. Aëgerter’s work is included in collections of the MoMA in New York, Paul Getty Center Los Angeles, Tate Gallery London, the Caldic Collection in Wassenaar, and the Fries Museum. www.laurenceaegerter.com