This project began as research for a master’s in gender and development at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO Ecuador) in 2013.
Its objective was to look at the daily domestic processes that have been pigeonholed in the private sphere through my grandmother's experience. From the beginning, this work faced the challenge of justifying how and why to talk about something as personal as one's own family.
The ethnographic work showed that the garden of medicinal plants is the space where the ritual preparation of home remedies begins. With the aim of mapping spatial organization logics and gardening techniques, a drawing was made with watercolor and ink on paper. And so the garden came to life.
First drawing of the garden, Quito 2013
Photo by Mavizi
The research work was entitled “Valgo o no valga agüita del malva para el corazón”, in English “Works or not mallow water for the heart.”.This refers to a popular Ecuadorian saying which suggests that the healing of a disease through plants is not only due to the medicinal properties of herbs, but also to factors that have to do with the heart and affections. The saying highlights the existence of emotional components in caregiving.
Read the full investigation HERE.
In July 2015 a second version of the illustration of the garden was created, this time to “cross the pond”, it traveled from Ecuador to Spain to participate in the I International Congress of Anthropology AIBR, which was held at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
The congress brought together academics and researchers to discuss what is new in the field of anthropology. Here the garden took the form of a scientific poster and was displayed on the walls of the university.
Poster exhibited at the Universidad Atónoma de Madrid 2015
Photo by: Universidad Atónoma de Madrid
See the scientific poster HERE.
On March 19, 2016, the project became an exhibition, which was presented in the FLACSO garden in Quito-Ecuador. There, visitors walked through twenty-two stories that related the life and experience of my grandmother. This exhibition invited the public to exchange knowledge about the use of medicinal plants through drawn recipes.
Here are some of the shared recipes:
A Garden of One’s Own Exhibition, Quito 2016.
Photo by Jorge Velázquez M.
A Garden of One’s Own Exhibition, Quito 2016.
Photo by Diego Arteag. Aurora Record.
Recipe writing During the exhibition, Quito 2016.
Photo by Diego Arteag. Aurora Record.
Recipes for the flu and bad energy, made during the exhibition, Quito 2016.
Photo by Jorge Velázquez M.
Recipe for asthma, made during the exhibition, Quito 2016.
Photo by Diego Arteag. Aurora Record.
Recipe tree, Quito 2016.
Photo by Jorge Velázquez M.
In May 2016, the official launch of the unjardinpropio.com web platform was celebrated at the "Biennial Views of Women" organized by the association MAV (Women in Visual Arts Madrid).
This web project aims to make caregiving visible as an activity that implies a legitimate production of knowledge. It seeks to be built as an educational tool, where the public learns about the complexity of care work, the Andean worldview of health and the use of medicinal plants through an online recipe book.
These are some of the illustrations that were used on the platform:
Planning pop ups garden, Quito 2016.
Planning by ups Recipe book, Quito 2016.
Photo by Mavizu.
