Colonialism in the Histories of Botanical Collecting

Join Christine Eyene, art historian and curator, and Martha Fleming, museologist and historian, for an important conversation on the stories behind the kinds of botanical collecting that have informed the exhibition ‘Seeds and Souls’ currently presented at Kunsthal Charlottenborg.

Eyene and Fleming will discuss their respective research around plants and their contexts and methods of collection. Examining their places of origin and destination, they’ll invite us to consider the meeting point of two geographies: Central Africa where Eyene focuses on a forest region bordering the semi-rural town of Lolodorf in Cameroon, and Northern Europe where Fleming has been researching evidence of Danish colonialism in the histories of the botanical collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark.

The conversation will unpack overlooked histories and lived experiences in those sites of extraction. It will also address new decolonial approaches to Western botanical collections.

Through an interactive discussion, the public is invited to reflect collectively and participate in drawing a new mapping of these connections and their wider social and ecological implications both here and across different geographies.

The talk will be in English and is free of admission. No reservation required to attend the talk, seats are given on a first come, first served basis. Free entrance to all exhibitions at Kunsthal Charlottenborg every Wednesday 17.00-20.00.

Biographies:

Christine Eyene is an art historian, critic, and curator and has just completed a PhD in History of Art at Birkbeck, University of London. She is a Lecturer in Contemporary Art at Liverpool John Moores University and Research Curator at Tate Liverpool. Her curatorial practice encompasses contemporary art, with a particular interest in African and Diaspora arts, feminism, photography, and sound art. Since 2021, Eyene has been developing independent research on the theme of ‘Botanical Histories and Colonial Legacies’ connecting ancestral and collective knowledge and histories around plants in Lolodorf (Cameroon). More recently she has been examining links between Liverpool and the central African country through the city’s maritime and trade histories.

Martha Fleming is a museologist, an historian of collections, and an historian of science with a particular focus on natural historical and correlative scientific collections and archives. Her current research investigates the creation and management of natural history collections as significant forms of knowledge producing practices embedded in globalised colonial contexts. She is currently the Principal Investigator of ‘Field/Work in the Archive: Herbaria as Sites of Cultural Exchange’, which is an Augustinus Foundation supported research project at the Natural History Museum of Denmark.  Fleming has worked in leadership, research, teaching and creative capacities across museums, universities and scientific institutions internationally.