Botanical Migrations

“This project touches upon so many important and timely issues: food security, environmental sustainability, wellbeing, migration, cultural diversity, and inclusivity to name a few. Growing your own food can become an act of resistance - cultivating the land, maintaining one's own culture in the face of hostile environments and repressive immigration policies. Gardening, as many of the participants testify, can also be deeply therapeutic. There’s a wonderful feeling of community at Maxwell Community Garden and Ninewells Community Garden. People just love being there. They’re not only producing food to eat. They also want to give back to the community. There’s diversity, inclusivity, mutual encouragement, a sense of wellbeing, and a sustainable way of living being explored.”

BOTANICAL MIGRATIONS was produced in partnership with The Maxwell Centre and Ninewells Community Garden, commissioned and curated by Sharing Not Hoarding Dundee.

Working with urban gardeners across Dundee, participants were invited to contribute recipes (using locally grown produce) and personal stories of migration. These stories and recipes inspired a series of 16 repeat pattern posters, combining delicate hand drawn botanics with traditional Victorian tile patterns.

The project naturally bears testimony to the diversity of Dundee - embedding the migration of plants and people into the fabric of the prints with recipes coming from places as far apart as France, Spain, Ukraine, Poland, Argentina, USA, Pakistan, SE Asia, and Scotland. Individual gardeners record how they came to call Dundee home in corresponding blog entries (which can be accessed, together with the recipes, by QR codes embedded within the posters.) The project was accompanied by an evening of recipe sharing {online}, where participants demonstrated their recipes and shared about their experience of being involved in the project.

Ingredients locally grown/ foraged included; fenugreek, coriander, tomatillo, pumpkin, courgette, garlic, tomato, sweetcorn, beetroot, rhubarb, mushrooms, elderflower, sloe berries, green beans, red pepper, and dandelion.

With special thanks to Cully Mc Cullogh, Jonathan Baxter, Manuela de los Rios, Helena Simmons, Kate Treharne, and all the participants: Farzana, Urszula, Alexander & Caroline, Mary, Kate, Christina, Jalal, Nadège, Gisela, Gibby, J. Neff, Geeta and Tess.

Thank you for sharing your recipes and your stories. 

You can read more about the project in an article published by Creative Dundee here.