Lianjiang Herbalist
连江植物图鉴 2023
面对机械化的城市更新与千篇一律的街道，如何展现连江独特的地方性和叙述呢？在“连江街道更新计划”项目中，由负责改造的源计划建筑师事务所牵头，我们与社工团队一起进行了为期一年的街市文化探索。游历在升平街与方正三街的凉茶与咖啡店中，我们发现了这百余种社区植物。《连江植物图鉴》便是收录了更新改造过程中发现的107种当地植物，它们中有些随着风、河流或是鸟儿的迁徙而来，而另一些则由居民种植。 图鉴既可以用来探索周围环境也可以用作家庭园艺指南。
药食两用的植物，是连江社区植物的最大特色，鬼针草、蘩缕、葛根，在连江，识者是灵丹。在不同的叫法与记忆中，它们展现了互通的用法和习俗。草药在照顾我们的健康的同时，又反映出了哪些困扰？以“寻小草”为引子，我们发起了一系列社区活动。在识别它们的过程中，“帮助外公拔花生”、“品尝地胆草蒸鸭子的味道”这些与自然相关的记忆在探索和分享的过程中逐渐丰富起来。共享文档的编辑历时近三个月，许多社区参与者通过工作坊和夏令营接力完成了共享文档的整理和编写工作。我们采用了植物在社区被发现时的照片，优先考虑了大家对于植物的诉求进行的分类。郁郁葱葱之间，每一株植物都以独特的方式生长着，是规划和设计无法打造的景观。我们也希望以植物作为媒介，通过卡牌和活动继续分享社区故事，延续对隐匿在社区中的生命力的探索。
项目团队：李娜琪，源计划建筑师事务所，清远博阳社工//调研及艺术行动，卡牌，探索游戏//地点：广东清远连江社区//时间：2021-2022
Lianjiang Herbalist is a set of 107 herbal flashcards featuring local plants identified in the Lianjiang community during its urban renewal. Created for educational purposes, the cards also serve as a guide for exploring the surroundings or gardening at home.
How do we envision the future? Within the realms of botanical and cultural memory, the project embarked on an exploration of the urban regeneration process, delving into the spheres of construction and social transformation. In collaboration with O-office Architects and local social workers, the on-site research took place over a year, uncovering local stories unfolding alongside the process of urbanisation and its backgrounds of rural exodus, migration, liminality and cultural displacement. Hundreds of plants were identified, some naturally occurring and others cultivated by local residents. Notable medicinal plants such as beggarticks, water chickweed, and kudzu, although invasive outside their native range, symbolize the community’s shared memories and resilience of the community. Ultimately, the plants discovered within the community were documented and transformed into 107 botanical illustrations.
This collection showcases the unique botanical landscape of Lianjiang, aiming to foster diverse and fluid connections amidst the otherwise uniform urban renewal, and to encourage ongoing community exploration. Each of the one hundred plants grows uniquely in the lush greenery, creating a community landscape that cannot replicated through planning or design. Resonating with the hidden collective knowledge, this set of plant cards is intended to serve as a medium to continue sharing the stories of the community through activities. It is also intended to keep the exploration of the hidden vitality within the community alive and to foster a sense of belonging.
In Collaboration with O-office Architects, Lianjiang Bo-yang Social Worker Team, Type: Flashcard, Game, Research and artistic intervention// Location: Qingyuan Canton, CN // Duration: Nov. 2021 - Dec. 2022
