Beth Stuart
POSIWID
17 October to 23 November 2024
THE HIMALAYAN BLACKBERRY CAN BE FOUND ALL OVER THE NORTHWEST COAST OF THE CONTINENT I LIVE ON. THE HIMALAYAN BLACKBERRY IS DESIGNATED AS AN INVASIVE SPECIES AND IS AGGRESSIVELY TAKING OVER PARKLAND AND WILDERNESS AREAS. THE HIMALAYAN BLACKBERRY WAS BROUGHT TO THE NORTHWEST COAST AND PROMOTED BY A GUY NAMED LUTHER BURBANK. LUTHER BURBANK WAS AN AMERICAN HORTICULTURIST WHO ENGINEERED MANY PROGENITORS OF CURRENT SUPERCROPS, INCLUDING THE IDAHO POTATO. LUTHER BURBANK WAS A EUGENICIST. HE WROTE A BOOK CALLED “TRAINING THE HUMAN PLANT” THAT MAPS HIS EUGENIC THEORY. THE HOLIDAY CALLED ARBOR DAY IN WHAT IS CURRENTLY CALLED THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS LUTHER BURBANK’S BIRTHDAY. THE HIMALAYAN BLACKBERRY IS CALLED THE HIMALAYAN BLACKBERRY BECAUSE LUTHER BURBANK RECEIVED A PACKAGE OF SEEDS SENT TO HIM BY A FRIEND WHO WAS TRAVELING IN THE HIMALAYAS. THE SEEDS WERE NOT FROM THE HIMALAYAS, THEY WERE FROM ARMENIA. BETWEEN 1915 AND 1923 THERE WAS A MASS EXPULSION AND GENOCIDE OF THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE. BETWEEN 600 000 AND 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE WERE KILLED. THE ARMENIANS WERE KILLED ON THE ORDERS OF THE OTTOMAN TURKISH RULING PARTY CALLED THE COMMITTEE OF UNION AND PROGRESS. MANY ARMENIANS WERE MARCHED INTO THE DESERT WHERE THEY WERE LEFT TO DIE OF DISEASE AND STARVATION IN PROVISIONAL CAMPS. THERE IS SOME DEBATE OVER THE ORIGIN OF THE CONFLICT AND IT IS OFTEN DISCUSSED AS RELIGIOUS, THE RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE BEING MUSLIM AND THE ARMENIANS BEING CHRISTIAN. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE HAD LOST THE BALKAN LANDS DURING THE BALKAN WAR TO EUROPE. UNDER OTTOMAN RULE, NON-MUSLIM RELIGIONS - NAMELY CHRISTIANS AND JEWS - WERE GOVERNED BY A SYSTEM CALLED MILLET, WHEREIN THEY WERE GRANTED AUTONOMOUS SELF-GOVERNANCE UNDER A RELIGIOUS LEADER BUT DID NOT SHARE THE SAME RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES AS THE MUSLIM RULING CLASS. AUTONOMY DECREASED AS SECULAR REFORM TOOK PLACE AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY, BUT THE ECONOMIC POWER OF THESE RELIGIOUS MINORITIES DID NOT IMPROVE. THEY WERE SUBJECT TO LAND DISPOSSESSION, UNFAIR TAXATION AND FORCED LABOR. ARMED ARMENIAN RESISTANCE TO ONGOING DISPOSSESSION, VIOLENCE AND INEQUITY WAS DEPLOYED AS A JUSTIFICATION FOR THEIR COORDINATED GENOCIDE AND ETHNIC CLEANSING. THE ARABIC WORD MILLET HAS NO RELATION TO THE SEED CALLED MILLET. THE OLDEST DIASPORIC ARMENIAN COMMUNITY INHABITS 14% OF THE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM. THEY HAVE BEEN THERE FOR 1600 YEARS. 100 YEARS AGO, THERE WERE 27,000 ARMENIANS IN THIS COMMUNITY AND NOW THERE ARE ABOUT 1000. THE ARMENIAN QUARTER OF JERUSALEM IS BORDERED BY GROWING ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS. THE FOLLOWING MATERIALS WERE USED IN THE ARTWORKS I MADE CALLED DELIBLES: PLASTER, IRON OXIDE PIGMENT, DYED SILK, STEEL AND SUMI INK. SUMI INK IS A TRADITIONAL JAPANESE INK MADE FROM SOOT PRODUCED IN OIL LAMPS THAT BURN RAPESEED. RAPESEED AND CANOLA COME FROM THE SAME STOCK, BUT CANOLA HAS BEEN GENETICALLY MODIFIED. CANOLA IS A TRADEMARKED SEED. THE NAME IS A CONTRACTION OF “CANADIAN OIL, LOW ACID”. A FEW WEEKS AGO I SAW A MEME THAT SAID “THE WORD ‘CANADIENS’ WAS ORIGINALLY DERIVED FROM THE MOHAWK WORD (KEHNE IAN) WHICH MEANS ‘THEY SIT IN OUR VILLAGE’ ”. THE QUOTE WAS ATTRIBUTED TO JEFF CORNTASSEL, WHO IS MY COLLEAGUE AND A MEMBER OF THE CHEROKEE NATION. THE WORKS CALLED DELIBLES HAVE CASTS OF 5 TYPES OF OBJECTS: HALVED WALNUTS, PIZZA CRUSTS, POPPY HULLS, BLACKBERRIES, AND WATERMELON SEEDS. EACH ORIGINAL MOLD WAS MADE FROM THE SOURCE OF THE OBJECT THEMSELVES, EXCEPT THE WATERMELON SEEDS, WHICH WERE CAST FROM ORIGINALS MADE OF CLAY. I COULDN’T FIND A WATERMELON THAT HAD SEEDS. SEEDS HAVE BEEN BRED OR MODIFIED OUT OF MOST GENERIC SUPERMARKET WATERMELONS. THE FOLLOWING IS A QUOTE BY VIVIEN SANSOUR “IN PALESTINE WHEN WE WANT TO TALK ABOUT SOMEONE’S INTENTION OR HEART, WE SAY THEY ARE ‘GOOD MUD.” VIVIEN SANSOUR IS FROM PALESTINE, AND IN 2014 FOUNDED THE PALESTINE HEIRLOOM SEED LIBRARY. THE NATIONAL FLOWER OF PALESTINE’S LATIN NAME IS PAPAVER UMBONATUM, AND THE COMMON NAME IN ENGLISH IS THE SEMITIC POPPY. THE WORD LEVANT COMES FROM THE FRENCH ROOT LEVER; THE VERB TO RISE. WHEAT FROM THE LEVANT IS CALLED EMMER AND IS ESTIMATED TO HAVE BEEN CULTIVATED AND USED IN THE LEVANT AS MUCH AS 23000 YEARS AGO. PALESTINIANS CONSUME ON AVERAGE 120 KG OF BREAD EACH YEAR, MADE FROM REFINED WHEAT FLOUR IMPORTED FROM AROUND THE WORLD. A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF THESE IMPORTS ARE FROM UKRAINE. WHEAT IS UKRAINE’S TOP AGRICULTURAL EXPORT. CONTEMPORARY CULTIVARS OF WHEAT CONTAIN LESS MINERALS AND PROTEINS THAN HEIRLOOM VARIETIES SUCH AS EMMER. REFINING WHEAT REMOVES MORE THAN HALF OF WHEAT’S B VITAMINS, 90 PERCENT OF THE VITAMIN E, AND VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE FIBER. IF THIS FACTSHEET WAS A SCRIPT FOR A VIDEO, THE PERFORMANCE WOULD BE OF ME DIGGING A HOLE IN THE GROUND AND PLANTING A CRUST OF PIZZA. I SAW A SOCIAL MEDIA POST IN NOVEMBER OF 2023 THAT SHOWED SOMEONE OPENING AN AID TRUCK IN THE GAZA STRIP AND IT WAS FULL OF THOUSANDS OF WHITE SHROUDS, NOT FOOD OR MEDICINE. MUSLIMS DO NOT BURY THEIR DEAD IN COFFINS, INSTEAD THEY USE SIMPLE SHROUDS AND BURY THEM DIRECTLY IN THE EARTH. THIS WEEK IN ANOTHER SOCIAL MEDIA POST I SAW THAT THEY ARE USING BLUE SHROUDS IN MASS GRAVES IN GAZA. MUSLIM BURIAL ALSO INVOLVES CLEANING THE BODY OF THE DEAD METICULOUSLY. OTHER THAN WHAT IS BROUGHT IN, THERE IS NO CLEAN WATER IN GAZA NOW. I SAW ON ISRAELI TELEVISION, SOMEONE SAYING EVERY PALESTINIAN OVER THE AGE OF FOUR YEARS IS A POTENTIAL TERRORIST AND A NECESSARY TARGET OF WAR. THE DELIBLES BAGS ARE APPROXIMATELY THE SIZE OF A BAG OF FLOUR OF THE TYPE THAT SOMETIMES ARRIVES IN GAZA, AND ALSO COULD CONTAIN THE BODY OF A FOUR-YEAR-OLD CHILD. I PLANTED TREES WHEN I WAS IN UNIVERSITY. I PLANTED MONOCROPS FOR TREE FARMS THAT HARVEST FOR PULP AND PAPER AND LUMBER SUPPLY. THEY TOLD ME THAT THEY TRIED AIRDROPPING SEEDS, BUT THE SUCCESS OF A CROP WAS MUCH HIGHER WHEN THEY WERE PLANTED BY HAND. I SAW ON SOCIAL MEDIA A FEW WEEKS BACK THAT THE AIRDROPPED AID FROM THE UNITED STATES CONTAINED MINI PACKAGES OF SKITTLES AND TINY TOBASCO SAUCE BOTTLES. IF ANYONE BUYS THE DELIBLES I WILL GIVE THE PROFIT TO DIRECT ACTION SUPPORTING LAND BACK FOR THE PEOPLES INDIGENOUS TO THE LAND WHOSE OCCUPATION I HAVE INHERITED FROM MY ANCESTORS. I CAN DO THIS BECAUSE I HAVE A JOB THAT IS PAID FOR BY THE GOVERNMENT. MY GOVERNMENT SENT 30 MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF MILITARY SUPPORT TO ISRAEL SINCE OCTOBER 7TH. I WALKED ON THE SHORE THIS WEEK. THE BLACKBERRY HEDGES THERE ARE BLOOMING.
*this factsheet was written in April of 2024 to accompany the Delibles, one of the works in POSIWID. CW: The exhibition contains mentions of sexual violence and criticizes imperialism.
Any profits the artist receives from the sale of exhibited works will be donated to Gitanyow hereditary chiefs to support current and ongoing Land Back efforts.
*this factsheet was written in April of 2024 to accompany the Delibles, one of the works in POSIWID. CW: The exhibition contains mentions of sexual violence and criticizes imperialism.
Any profits the artist receives from the sale of exhibited works will be donated to Gitanyow hereditary chiefs to support current and ongoing Land Back efforts.