The Vegan Plant Aliens classed themselves as cannibals who ate other plants, living in a scientific farmer’s compound, and weren’t allowed to go outside unless they were in groups, to stay safe from humans. Maps were drawn of areas of Corby the plant-aliens would colonise, with lists of rules the plant-aliens would live by. These formed the basis of “plant propaganda” images later shown on billboards around the town centre.Ĭhildren worked in groups to create their own plant-alien communities who were visiting Corby on a trip to earth, using post-it notes to record group and species names, descriptions of how they travelled to earth, where they lived and what they ate. Human-plant hybrid species were created as the children drew blind portraits of one another on leaf shaped backgrounds, evolving into imaginative masks made from paper shapes of human and plant characteristics. One plant allegedly communicated telepathically with others to discuss and plot against humans!Įxisting weed specimens were given to pupils in sealed envelopes, which became more exotic as their partners drew what they imagined from spoken descriptions of the original. Once revealed, pupils named their plants and ascribed properties to them, such as healing and making people calm, giving bees energy, making you fly, or giving the ability to see in the dark once consumed.
#Chimera art blocks series#
The environmental benefits of these “weeds” go widely unrecognised, however reframing this often invisible urban ecology as a beneficial amenity offers a fresh perspective on our neighbourhoods.Ĭommissioned by Fermynwoods Contemporary Art to work in Corby, Northamptonshire, Chiara connected children with nature through a series of workshops with Year 6 pupils at Exeter – A Learning Community, and later members of the general public, to help discover and celebrate the beauty and biological wealth of forgotten plants in their neighbourhoods, to reflect and reframe on the concept of citizenship and identity while opening up new perspectives on their relationship with the urban natural world.īeginning with a game of consequences, pupils each secretly drew half an imaginary plant, with their partner drawing the other half, before revealing surprising hybrid species to one another. Spontaneously propagating, these resilient plants find distinctive niches to thrive in and they inhabit our most derelict landscapes. Wild plants have taken root along roadsides and chain-link fences, between cracks of pavement, and within vacant lots, rubble dumps and highways. We tend to think of towns and cities as concrete jungles, but our urban environment is immersed in plant life. Project descriptionĬhiara Dellerba’s The Chimera Plantarium is an ongoing project focused on mapping, rethinking and redesigning public places from the perspective of urban plants – with the ultimate goal of revealing the beauty and biological wealth of these great protagonists of the living world. Credit: Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, 2022. The project culminated with a weekend of public engagement workshops for local people to discover the wonder and beauty of our urban plants and to create wilder streets where we live. Outcomes included two large “plant propaganda” posters shown on billboards in the town, and a beautifully produced Herbarium publication made in collaboration with the pupils.
The Chimera Plantarium is a project by artist, curator and facilitator Chiara Dellerba investigating urban spontaneous plants to map, rethink and redesign public places from the perspective of “weeds”.įor Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Chiara worked with children at Exeter – A Learning Community Academy, in Corby. Twitter: Chimera Plantarium Billboard 2 (detail).Funders: Arts Council England, Leslie Church Memorial Fund, Northamptonshire Community Foundation.Partner organisations: Exeter – A Learning Community.James Steventon, Director, Fermynwoods Contemporary Art About the project
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