| Work Type: | Video work | | Date of work: | 2007 | | Copyrights: | Anna Lucas | | Subject: | Kaff Mariam, Hand of Mary, ancient plant, new life, Rose of Jericho, faith, healing properties | | Technique: | Documentary video filmed on High Definition | | Text Reference: | Anna Lucas - Here and your here. Exhibition catalogue including texts from Claire Doherty and Francesco Manacorda, which can be purchased from http://shop.fact.co.uk/ | | | Description: | Kaff Mariam translates as Hand of Mary, and can be found in the desserts of the Middle East. It is an ancient plant - also known as the Rose of Jericho - whose dry bud can survive many years, until enough rain falls it blooms again. A Creole belief is that it also brings new life when given water on a Tuesday or Friday and accompanied by a prayer. Lucas' search for the plant growing wild leads her through the Holy Land from the Palestinian West Bank, into Israel and finally the Sinai desert in Egypt, with Bedouin the goat herder.
The opening scene takes us an a slow descent by cable car from the site of the last temptation of Christ, into Jericho, the oldest and lowest city in the world, on the shores of the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea. The artist is hosted with cups of tea in every location from mechanics yard and a sweet shop to the sandy deserts of Sinai.
The journey is directed by various word of mouth accounts of where Kaff Mariam can be found, and uncovers the elusive plant's extraordinary ability to track climate change and increase fertility. [MORE][LESS]Kaff Mariam translates as Hand of Mary, and can be found in the desserts of the Middle East. It is an ancient plant - also known as the Rose of Jericho - whose dry bud can survive many years, until enough rain falls it blooms again. A Creole belief is that it also brings new life when given water on a Tuesday or Friday and accompanied by a prayer. Lucas' search for the plant growing wild leads her through the Holy Land from the Palestinian West Bank, into Israel and finally the Sinai desert in Egypt, with Bedouin the goat herder.
The opening scene takes us an a slow descent by cable car from the site of the last temptation of Christ, into Jericho, the oldest and lowest city in the world, on the shores of the rapidly shrinking Dead Sea. The artist is hosted with cups of tea in every location from mechanics yard and a sweet shop to the sandy deserts of Sinai.
The journey is directed by various word of mouth accounts of where Kaff Mariam can be found, and uncovers the elusive plant's extraordinary ability to track climate change and increase fertility. | | | Source: | accompanying exhibition literature | | | Date of source: | 2007 | | | Description: | The video file details an excerpt of the work Kaff Mariam, 2007. The original work has a duration of 23 minutes, created using High Definition Video.
Commissioned by FACT in association with Film London Artists' Moving Image Network and Arts Council England. [MORE][LESS]The video file details an excerpt of the work Kaff Mariam, 2007. The original work has a duration of 23 minutes, created using High Definition Video.
Commissioned by FACT in association with Film London Artists' Moving Image Network and Arts Council England. | | | Description: | Lucas’ juxtaposition of mesmerising landscapes is punctuated with subtle political inflections, the
occasional shot of a border fence, or the measuring of territory in the disputed West Bank in Kaff Mariam, for instance. And even in the vast, remote locations of the desert and rainforest, small symbols of globalisation can still be seen: a blue IKEA bag, carrying the possessions of a seventy year-old goat herder as she wanders through the Sinai desert; an Amazonian guide wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a Nestlé slogan; or a trademark McDonalds
logo on the back of a factory worker’s clothes as he bundles Uña de Gato bark in Pucallpa.
Filmed during a period of political unrest, increasing scientific discovery and ecological awareness, the works in this exhibition present poignant reflections of the remedial potential of nature. While the US government and
pharmaceutical companies invest in the study of indigenous plant knowledge in environmentally sensitive areas such as the Amazon rainforest, as botanic research is used to track climate change, and while Bedouins use plants
such as the Kaff Mariam to increase fertility, Lucas’ timely investigations highlight the hidden significance of local knowledge against a backdrop of global concern.
[MORE][LESS]Lucas’ juxtaposition of mesmerising landscapes is punctuated with subtle political inflections, the
occasional shot of a border fence, or the measuring of territory in the disputed West Bank in Kaff Mariam, for instance. And even in the vast, remote locations of the desert and rainforest, small symbols of globalisation can still be seen: a blue IKEA bag, carrying the possessions of a seventy year-old goat herder as she wanders through the Sinai desert; an Amazonian guide wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a Nestlé slogan; or a trademark McDonalds
logo on the back of a factory worker’s clothes as he bundles Uña de Gato bark in Pucallpa.
Filmed during a period of political unrest, increasing scientific discovery and ecological awareness, the works in this exhibition present poignant reflections of the remedial potential of nature. While the US government and
pharmaceutical companies invest in the study of indigenous plant knowledge in environmentally sensitive areas such as the Amazon rainforest, as botanic research is used to track climate change, and while Bedouins use plants
such as the Kaff Mariam to increase fertility, Lucas’ timely investigations highlight the hidden significance of local knowledge against a backdrop of global concern.
| | | Source: | Karen Allen, Curator. | | | Date of source: | 2007 | |
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