Reflecting Studios artist Kadeem Oak’s ongoing research into ecology, migration and the Caribbean, the screening focuses on the botanical garden as a form of living archive. Oak invites critical conversation around Britain’s imperial institutions, drawing on material connected to Kew Gardens. The screening considers the mediation of monuments and archives and how their colonial logics might be disrupted through contemporary intervention.
The event begins with the Black Audio Film Collective’s 1983 Signs of Empire. Collaging image, text and archival footage with concrete music in place of narration, the work departs from many of the techniques associated with traditional documentary-making. Following from this, Oak screens the 1944 short Kew and Me. Blending nature photography with light-hearted commentary, the film offers a behind-the-scenes perspective on the tranquillity of Kew Gardens, even while the second world war was taking place in the background. Finally, the 1971 film The Work of Kew Gardens will be shown, focusing on the scientific research into agriculture and horticulture that took place at laboratories onsite.
As part of the event, Oak invites electronic music producer, DJ and artist Lamin Fofana to share a soundscape alongside the screening of Kew and Me. Ethnobotanist Jonn Gale will also present on their practice and research, which looks at hidden histories and human-plant relationships, studying specimens from the Linnean Society of London collected across the Atlantic Slave Trade Route.
