11.12.2024 / News, The Museum of Pharmacy
Medicines Invented by Plants
Romuald Demidenko: The narrative of the exhibition at the Museum of Pharmacy begins with plants and their healing power. Where does the interest in this topic come from?
Agnieszka Brzeżańska: As a matter of fact, all medicines are invented by plants. We have learned to synthesise them from plants. It is wonderful to observe something so inconspicuous and suddenly discover that among weeds and other species that we tend to ignore or eradicate, most plants are for us a sort of a readily available pharmacy. They grow for us and offer their support. Once we begin to notice and discover them, we find out that they give us signals. This is particularly apparent in a meadow, when our attention is directed to the plant world. Plants are living beings, endowed with extraordinary properties and abilities. As they use the laws of quantum mathematics to calculate photons, they are able to process the energy from light and create from it the chemical compounds we need. What is more, they give us access to themselves, which means we don’t have to sneak into the wilderness and poach protected plants. Communication with plants is not one-sided – what we do with this fact is up to us. Even flower meadows growing by tram tracks in cities are made up of native species, such as tansy and sedum.
One of the works on display is a herbarium you made as part of your studies at the Institute of Polish Herbology and Nature Therapy. What plants are included in it?
I had long been thinking about making a herbarium, but I was not interested in creating an artwork. I try to avoid such literal works, so this is rather a herbarium in a 1-to-1 scale that is the result of my studies. I made it in line with the established tradition and principles. I chose plants that caught my eye. Initially, I planned to group them, but after a while I decided that the final form would have a more organic feel. It is the result of six or seven field trips, during which I collected whatever plants at the right size I managed to find. Many plants are souvenirs from walks and travels – I found some of them in the summer while sailing down the Narew river on a barge, others I picked near my home in Warsaw, the rest I brought from somewhere in Europe or a trip to Sokołowsko.
What surprised you?
On many occasions I was convinced that I had collected one plant and it turned out to be a completely different one. For example, water hemlock is easily confused with other plants from the celery family. If you are not certain, you shouldn’t touch these plants, because some of them can be deadly. Intuition can sometimes be very helpful, although phytochemistry is so complicated that collecting herbs requires knowledge – a thorough understanding of plants. As I do not plan to become a doctor, I treat herbology rather as a store of knowledge that allows me to competently help myself and my loved ones. The course I completed is just the beginning and I know that it takes many years of study to become a herbalist, and at the same time to develop your own style and befriend plants.
In your journey on the trail of medicinal herbs, you focus on common mugwort (Latin: Artemisia vulgaris). Why did you choose it?
I have always been fond of common wormwood because of its silver colour and wonderful scent, but gradually I learned about many aspects of common mugwort, which is a highly gentle and safe anti-inflammatory and cleansing agent. It was part of Slavic rituals and folklore, so you could say it’s our traditional witcher’s herb. It’s a plant that helps with dreaming, and when someone wants to work with lucid dreaming, the mugwort infusion is very helpful. It can be smoked like cigarettes, it can be used as incense to fumigate houses, but it’s also in use in ancestor rituals.
The title Ancestors also covers a series of small ceramic objects with an abstract form, which can be found at the exhibition. Who or what are the titular characters?
Maybe they’re “thought-forms” – portraits of many incarnations at once. Or maybe they’re actually our ancestors, existing in a different density, which is why they take on an indeterminate amoeboid form. Their representations verge on abstraction, and I wanted them to suggest an idea of what we are outside matter, before and after physical existence. I would prefer not to define “ancestors” too specifically, because their nature is open, related to various beliefs and premonitions that we carry within ourselves. I do not engage in phenomenology or magic here, but I believe that all these characters that I create are benevolent to us humans – just like our ancestors and descendants, who are a part of us. I believe that the reality surrounding us is conscious, cooperates with us, answers our questions, takes care of us and is benevolent to us.
Archaeologist Marija Gimbutas, author of The Living Goddesses, proposed a new perspective on the past of Western culture, suggesting that in the Neolithic period, social order was founded on egalitarian structures, and women held a prominent place in hierarchies. How do you relate to these kinds of narratives testifying to the matriarchal origins of the world?
I would have to go back a decade in my memory, when I was creating the Ziemia rodzinna [Family Land] series. At the exhibition of the same title, I showed vases in the shape of women’s breasts, fashioned in a way bringing to mind prehistoric artefacts found in all cultures of the world. It was my way of reconnecting with a more authentic spirituality and faith. In Polish, the word ziemia means both soil and the space of local identity, similar to the German word Heimatland. Starting from that I began to reflect on regaining our identity and continuity of life on Earth. The word ziemia is fitting here also because it reflects my idea of fractal continuity: I start from my own garden, inherited from my grandmother, where I studied the land and soil, and that extends to planetary consciousness. I think that today we are witnessing a strong process of regaining this kind of awareness of one’s identity, but this cannot be done in a globalist way, but rather from within ourselves. In order to reconnect with our roots and regain awareness of where we come from, we need a stronger contact with ziemia (land/soil).
Nowadays we observe a great interest of the art world in topics related to nature, or perhaps a return to reflection on the relationship of humans with other species and the environment. Where do you think this comes from?
I am glad that many people are engaging in these important subjects. While I realise that following trends can be risky, I am generally optimistic. I believe that as a human race we need to reconnect with our bodies and nature, learn to take notice of them and respect them. We need to invent a new way of living on the Earth that does not destroy and pollute the environment. In Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice, Rupa Marya and Raj Patel show how political processes and inflammatory processes in our bodies intertwine – suggesting that global warming is a sort of fever induced by poisoning, also on a psychological level. I think that talking only about global warming does not capture the essence of the problem; the key is to put an end to industrial pollution. It is also advisable to address the problem of bureaucracy. Bureaucracy converts everything into numbers, often overlooking the complexity of ecological processes, and furthers the interests of large corporations, especially the military industry, whose environmental impact remains almost completely outside official statistics, despite the fact that the ecological damage caused by wars is unimaginable. On a deeper level, individual and collective traumas and negative emotions translate into inflammatory processes. Our existence on the Earth will hinge on understanding these processes – not only in nature, but also in our psyche, bodies, family and professional relationships.
Can art have a therapeutic effect?
I personally know two people who said that seeing a painting by Stefan Gierowski saved their lives, so, yes, absolutely, it can. Art has certainly saved my life many times too. It is a way of coping with ourselves and the world. I think that now, when many people have lost faith in the church and cannot find certain ideas in religious messages, we feel a need for contact with something greater. Art can also become a portal through which one can experience the world in a contemporary, accessible and honest, rather than ritualised, way.
On herbs, trees and lichen
November 21, 2024 – March 2, 2025
PLN 12 regular / PLN 8 concession, free Thursday
Museum of Pharmacy, 31/33 Piwna St.
Agnieszka Brzeżańska (born in 1972) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk and in Warsaw where she obtained the diploma of the Prof. Stefan Gierowski’s Painting Studio. As part of the scholarship of the Government of Japan, she attended the University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo. Her works cover paintings, drawings, photographs, movies, pottery and other media. Brzeżańska utilizes various records of knowledge, from physics and philosophy to cognition systems marginalized by modern science, such as alchemy, parapsychology, esoterics, tribal lore and matriarchal traditions. From 2016, together with Ewa Cieplewska, she has been organizing an artistic project on the Vistula River called Flow/Przepływ. Her works were presented at dozens of individual and collective exhibitions in Poland and abroad. She cooperates with the Warszawa BWA Gallery in Warsaw and the Nanzuka gallery in Tokyo.
More: agnieszkabrzezanska.com.
