My Mother's Garden by Severina Dico-Young

Exploring the multiplicities of diaspora and connection to motherlands, Severina uses weaving, moving image, and natural dyeing to consider their relationship with their own mother, informed by the garden and plants she grows. 

Each of the weavings – made over the course of a year – explores a different branch of research connected with cultural identity, "from traditional medicinal plants to thinking about windows as borderlands that diasporas exist within, and the views from windows that have captured bits of my soul across different homelands," Severina explained. They were also interested in tracing the materials they used back to the source. In doing so, they were inspired to trace their own cultural identity too, and in this way, Severina landed back in the garden her mother grows, where they grew up watching her care for the plants.  

Severina explained, "I have grown up watching my mother garden and I have always felt gardening was a language she had perfect fluency in. I do not necessarily share this language with her, but I have picked up small elements that have allowed me to tend to my own garden. This generational transference of knowledge became a huge source of inspiration throughout the making of the work." 

The installation consists of five weavings, suspended from the ceiling at different heights. Two are dyed with natural materials made from medicinal plants and the plants Severina's mother grows. The other three are off-white in colour, one made from raw sheep's wool and yarn made from Severina and her mother's hair, one made from cotton and merino wool with sketches sewn in and one made from mohair, hand-spun wool and pineapple silk.  

Alongside the weavings, a small bird box emanates birdsong and a black and white short film (shot on Double Super 8 and hand developed by Severina) shows scenes from the garden, scenes of Severina and her mother braiding each other's hair, and images of the sheep that supplied the wool.  

The piece is experimental in terms of the materials used – which include the artist's own hair and her mother's, and natural dyes made from blueberries and mint. These plants are not recommended to use for dye, due to not being colour fast, but their emotional significance overrode this in terms of Severina's choice of materials. 

Severina hopes the work compels the audience to think about diasporic experiences with the land, as they acknowledge that GEM people in the UK "are not necessarily the faces of gardening nor the outdoors."