Efter en lång tid av liv i städer slogs jag av kraften i naturen då jag återvände till gården från min uppväxt. Plantor med squash slingrade sig ut över vägen. Squashen klättrade in i kohagen och vägrade begränsas. Först skulle det bli en kokbok. Efter en natts sömn kändes en kokbok som ett slöseri med en denna titel. Istället gick jag till ladan och hittade 27 stycken avdankade verktyg för att aktivt ha ihjäl en squash.
Mitt performativa arbete med squash är presenterade i olika volymer av reflektioner om vad människan medvetet gör med naturen som ännu troget föder oss varje dag. "Weed - 17 Ways to kill a squash vol. I” innehåller skriftliga förklaringar samt bilder på verktyg för att facilitera ett dråp.
After being cut and stitched, I travelled back to the family farm to heal. Struck by the vitality of the squash cultivated. Long strings were crawling across the ground dragging its large heads with. They climbed over fences into fields filled of cows. “WEED–17 Ways to Kill a Squash”. I initially thought to make a cookbook as the squash is something that generously feeds us for months each year. Presenting options for all that get stuck with this green. A night passed. A cookbook felt like wasting a title. Why would you ever like to kill greens? The squash is a trustworthy one to survive under odd circumstances. I decided to visit dads barn where he keeps all sorts of tools, that at one point, will be made “useful”. Things break. Instead of throwing, simply to buy a new substitute, you can disassemble something old to mend most broken bits. Each tool and squash was portrayed together in an image. Shot on protective plastic. Killings then to become rather slushy. In total, 27 half-useless tools got selected. Then ways to physically kill the squash had to be described.
For example,
“Drive towards the sea. Stick a screwdriver into earth at the tip of a cliff. Place the squash on its top to balance. Wait for it to loose focus and dive into the sea”.
“Carve it like you scrape butter with a blunt knife”.
The performance is printed and not demonstrated with moving image. Each observer use their own minds, imagining how to pursue each killing. 10 actions are left out for this same reason. We share a similar structure of flesh and growth. Life flushing through our veins. Future aspirations. A desire to be made useful.
Things we consume are “ecological / recyclable / sustainable”. Painting goods green won’t make them disappear. I frequently pick up green-labelled thrash alongside the road. Humans rarely heal ourselves. Yet earth heals without human interference.