Myths and Realities of the Kudzu Plant: On re-patterning, pigment, and entanglement
A pop up open studio and fieldwork station was undertaken as part of on-the-ground research for Field Station 5 project Re-Patterning with Kudzu: Reckoning in Search of Regeneration. Artist Ellie Irons collected wild and weedy plants, including kudzu, from disturbed landscapes dominated by such species in Natchez and brought them to the carefully groomed grounds of the former Melrose Plantation (now a National Historical Park). In the shade of a large live oak rumored to be hundreds of years old, surrounded by a monoculture of carefully mowed turf grass, Irons invited participants to engage in a sensorial manner with these uncultivated—and often unwanted—plants through a process of creating watercolor paints from their blossoms and leaves.
Plant parts were collected where a field of kudzu meets a lawn, behind the Regions Drive Up Bank Teller in downtown Natchez, Mississippi on the morning of the workshop. Such edges tend to be areas of higher biodiversity, and this one harbored at least twelve plant species in addition to kudzu (Pueraria montana), including: whitemouth dayflower (Commelina erecta), hairy crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis), tie vine (Ipomoea cordatotriloba), red morning glory (Ipomoea coccinea), smartweed (Polygonum sp.), American trumpet vine (Campsis radicans), and Canada golden rod (Solidago canadensis). In a nearby lawn, three species besides turf grass were observed, including broadleaf plantain (Plantago major), Spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata) and dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).
Plant parts collected where a field of kudzu meets a lawn, behind the Regions Drive Up Bank Teller in downtown Natchez, Mississippi on the morning of the workshop. Photograph by Ellie Irons
Focusing on pokeweed (Phytolacca Americana) and kudzu (Pueraria Montana) the paint-making session emphasized not only techniques for making watercolor paints, but also asked participants to consider the intertwined fates of species indigenous to the Mississippi Delta, like pokeweed, and introduced species like kudzu. Both species are considered weedy and labeled as “invasive” in areas where they have spread outside their historical ranges. Both species have ranges that are continuing to shift in response to predation, herbicide-based restoration tactics, industrial agriculture, and climate change. And both species produce heavily pigmented parts (blossoms for kudzu, berries for pokeweed) that are attractive to human and more-than-human life forms. Participants painted postcards that depicted the two plants together, intertwined and accompanied by associated species such as the kudzu beetle (Megacopta cribraria) and the southern armyworm (Spodoptera eridania).
Materials and equipment for processing plant parts into watercolor paints, including mortar and pestle, muller, glass sheet, strainer, gum arabic, honey, and alum. Photograph by Ellie Irons Plant parts sorted ahead of their preparation for making watercolor paint. Photograph by Ellie Irons Midway through the paint-making process using kudzu blossoms. This bright purple pulp is a mixture of gum arabic solution, water, a small amount of honey, and ground kudzu blossoms. Photograph by Maya Kóvskaya
After painting together and talking about the myths and realities of these weedy plants, participants were invited to engage with kudzu more intimately, smelling its grape-scented blossoms, touching its fuzzy stems, pressing its leaves on their skin, and finally entangling their forearms with its vines for a portrait. While some participants were already deeply familiar with the plant—having hunted for its blossoms for jelly-making or chopped back its reaching vines—many knew it only from seeing it through and framed by the window of an automobile. From this vantage point, kudzu appears as a blurry mass of green sprawling across ravines and slopes, or climbing power lines and fences along the borders of roads, highways, and parking lots. Interacting with it at close range was a revelation for some participants, while for others it constituted a memorable experience that will go some way towards re-patterning the body to respond to kudzu as a specific, living, breathing life form, rather than a mythic, abstract jumble of green.
An in-progress pigment chart tracking the different colors produced during the workshop, including the shift in color with the addition of alum, a salt used as a mordant. Photograph by Dan Phiffer Workshop participants painting kudzu and pokeweed-themed postcards using freshly made paint from kudzu blossoms, kudzu leaves, pokeweed (Phytolacca Americana), and whitemouth dayflower. Photograph by Maya Kóvskaya Another of the postcards produced during the workshop. Photograph by Maya Kóvskaya
Completed pigment chart, also showing a comparison between related dayflower species, one of which is indigenous to the region (C. erecta), the other of which was introduced from East Asia in the 18th century (C. Communis). Photograph by Ellie Irons
