Jana Zatvarnická

Our bodies grow at night (2024)

Exhibiton Project in Wandarchive / 8BRUT in Düsseldorf curated by Bastaan Hezemans.

 

The project Our Bodies Grow at Night explores the impact of the Anthropocene on questions of cultural heritage in the fields of botany, anthropology, and somatic medicine.

The idea for the project is inspired by the science fiction novel Dawn (1987) by the American author Octavia E. Butler. The project represents a reinterpretation of her legacy through posthuman theories and examines the functioning of symbiotic bodies of human and non-human beings in an age marked by climate nightmares.

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The paintings and objects depict a ritualistic autopsy of plants and the symbolic rebirth of women as plants, which can be understood as a response to both ecological violence and violence against women. The entire installation has been expanded through curator Bastiaan Hezemans’ concept into an archive-museum environment. The display case within the installation presents an interpretation of the “missing link” and traces the history of the mutating body through human and plant relics.

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The project builds upon my research in critical plant studies conducted at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and the Klassik Stiftung Weimar.