Ask the Plants is the last iteration of the trilogy of installations including Malahierba andThe Three Sisters: my plant induced memories, the evolution of a void exhibited at KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana between 2022-2023. Malahierba was an interactive installation originally set in front of my garden in Kumasi, 2022. The Three Sisters was installed in the unfinished presidential memorial library of former President John Kufuor. Ask the Plants was situated in the unfinished extension of the School of Veterinary Medicine KNUST, which would have been the largest veterinary hospital in West Africa.

The installation consisted of traditional sleeping mats, local instruments, and games. A series of brightly colored flags were installed with the names and hand drawn images of different vegetables and medicinal plants known as weeds, a video, and an audio interview of a local herbalist to be listened to while sitting in the natural garden. The “Rivers” installation – meters long hand cut and sewn photo collages on paper of images of the Kumasi garden - stream down along the concrete pillars ending in the natural garden, blending with the actual plants living in the abandoned space.

The theme of flora is a reference to my great Aunt Ena’s extensive garden in Mandeville, Jamaica and her work with growing plants and flowers in and around her home. Manifesting interactions through touch, smell, taste, visuals, and sounds, the work intends to provoke conversations of game playing, music, traditional cooking and family histories between participants. Suggesting that perhaps these exchanges could manifest avenues that transcend effects of colonialism and capitalism, moving us towards a more munificent society.