In the ornamental garden project, the artist Eva-Maria Lopez uses a variety of plants that have developed resistance to herbicides and are sold by multinational chemicals companies. This adaptation is a natural process and is consistent with Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Naturally, the genetic change is meant to survive climate change and more. The ornament represents a company logo (here, for Pinus, the former chemical factory in Rače, near Maribor), and is reminiscent of “jardins à la française” or French garden design. Several plants, so-called “superweeds”, such as the poppy (papaver rhoeas), cornflower (centaurea cyanus) and others all have cultural, symbolic, and medical meanings and implications. These plants often grow in herbicide-treated surroundings – fields, railways, as well as urban structures and private courtyards. we resist.garden is a way of cultivating awareness of our flora and addressing the question of sustainable cultivation.
The garden installation was made possible by the professional, kind and generous support from the Dandelion – mala vrtna delavnica company in particular with help from Miha and Gal Kuhar!
we resist., Papaver rhoeas (Poppy), 2020–2021, photograph, 75 x 50 cm, courtesy of the artist
Eva-Maria Lopez is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher working in Karlsruhe and Paris. After receiving her master’s degree in agriculture, she studied art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe. In keeping with such an educational background, her artwork focuses on issues related to nature, society, and the environment. In addition to her primary medium of expression, photography, she has moved increasingly towards land art projects, merging material realities and ways of conveying these issues and histories visually. She approaches her art practice as a process of continuous research, combining the interplay of keywords, titles, and slogans with corresponding pictures or graphics and even artistic garden design.