Antibody

Floor text printed in vinyl in front of the entry and exist of my gorse green house.

Origin Europe. Introduced to New Zealand by colonial

settlers. A weed, described as ‘a plant out of place'. A

viral plant infecting the purity of the landscape.

Violently consumes landscapes. Occurs in sites with

low fertility. Survives on very little. Grows rapidly.

Invades pasture easily. Versatile about habitat. A pest.

Common in disturbed areas. Tolerant of a wide range

of conditions. Arouses human dislike. Abundant in

waste places. Burning, in trying to destroy, provides an

ideal seed bed. Burns well. Tenacious once

established. Out-competes and displaces most other

plants. Unwanted. Grows vigorously. Extremely

challenging to eradicate. Can cause physical harm to

people.

Nature knows no plants as weeds. A plant whose

virtues have not yet been discovered. Eradication

causes negative environmental impacts. Qualities of

strength and integrity. Usually dismissed as a weed.

Recognised as soil conditioner. Can fix nitrogen for

native re-vegetation. Brings grown men to tears.

flowers can be harvested. Serves medicinal qualities.

Provider of pollen. High in protein. Responds well to

‘tough love’. Can resemble traits of optimism and

hope through its quality to survive and

thrive. Flourishes in unlikely landscapes. Roots

deeply. Holds on tightly to soil, Thorn fiercely protects

the plant. Produces a vibrant yellow flower. Flowers

all year.

Origin Europe, a weed, described as ‘a plant out of place,' a viral plant infecting the purity of the landscape, tenacious once established, out-competes and displaces most other plants, unwanted, grows vigorously, extremely challenging to eradicate.

Gorse as a body had idiosyncrasies of politics and identity characteristics shared with my own. Contradictions and hypocrisies, how to be strong sure of your place as an introduced species. How do you look subjected in the gallery? in the green house?

I admired the strength it held with the earth. A tight clench to the ground, so permanently fixed. Through reading New Zealand horticultural literature, I found poetic and personified descriptions of the gorse that ran contingent my own Pākehā positionality.

Gorse superior but volatile? Everyone hates gorse but evolutionary its bloody clever.

I built this house to incubate the conflicting attributes and traits of gorse and myself. To offer myself and others ideas surrounding destruction and harvest. subjection and removal. A space to understand an anger associated to the plants greed of the land, and a space to realise a natural robustness.

Nature knows no plants as weeds, responds well to ‘tough love’, brings grown men to tears, holds on tightly to soil, thorn fiercely protects the plant, produces a vibrant yellow flower, Which blooms all year. flowers all year.