De/Colonial Botany: Migrating Plants, Repairing Landscapes

Can we reimagine the complex relationships among nature, culture, and homeland through the lens of a decolonial botany? In this conversation, Robert Zhao Renhui and Tuấn Mami explore plants as contemporary symbols of resilience and adaptation that can shape our understanding of multispecies ecosystems and migrating communities and enrich our collective existence. In a world grappling with the climate crisis, the artists invite the audience to rethink exclusionary binaries such as invasive vs native species and to see plants as matters of emotion, memory, history, and politics.

Image credit: Robert Zhao Renhui

Speakers
Tuấn Mami, Artist; Co-founder, Nhà Sàn Collective
Robert Zhao Renhui, Artist; Founder, Institute of Critical Zoologists

In conversation with
Katia Arfara, Curator; Assistant Professor of Theater and Performance Studies, NYUAD

Host or Publisher NYUAD Institute