Read in text form below or click on the arrow above to listen to the audio recording.
NARRATED BY CECILY MILLER
INTERVIEW BY CRYSTAL HAYNES COPITHORNE
This banner features a dandelion, a familiar plant that was originally imported from England and valued as food and medicine. It escaped colonial gardens and has spread into green spaces throughout North America. For many it is an annoying weed. Others relish its beauty, enjoy its tasty green leaves, or drink dandelion tea!
Welcome to People, Plants and Revolution, a multimedia public art project organized by ArtsArlington to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution in Arlington. We explore colonial life and some of the stories, legends, and history surrounding the revolutionary events of April 18 and 19, 1775 – all through the lens of plants. At that time, Arlington was a farming village of 500 to 600 people. Officially part of West Cambridge, it went by Menotomy, adopted by the colonists from the name “Menontamumat” used by the Massachusett tribe, the original people of this region. We use Menotomy throughout this project, which consists of colorful banners designed by a collaborative team of four artists and an audio tour combining many voices and perspectives. The artists – Liz Shepherd, Suzanne Moseley, Lily McDonald and Andrew Palladino – created multilayered silkscreens combining colonial-style images with plant illustrations from the Harvard University Herbaria. The blue background is inspired by the blue of cyanotype chemistry, used since the 1840s for botanical illustration.
This project explores the ways that plants are part of both the natural and the human world. The people of Menotomy – both before and after the English settlers arrived – were shaped by the plants around them, and in turn transformed those plants through cultivation and use. Indigenous peoples used fire to shape forests, collected plants from far away through trade or travel, and grew their favored food plants, all while promoting values of sustainability and relationship to nature. Colonial settlers brought plants from England to recreate a familiar way of life and fulfill a longing for home, reshaping the ecosystem around them. They also exported plants back home as needed, and traded plants back and forth throughout the British global empire. One perspective underlying the colonial enterprise is that nature is a resource for extracting commodities for sale as much for survival. Forests were cut down and animals – like the beaver – hunted to the brink of extinction. In Menotomy however, people planted to create subsistence farms that would fulfil their family needs and give them the independence they cherished. And in Menotomy, people would fight bravely for that independence in 1775, asserting their rights in the face of an autocratic and unfair government.
Today plants are often out of sight; in Menotomy plants were in full view. An early frost, a blight, new cuttings from a neighbor or seeds from a ship were transformative at a time when you could not go to a corner store for food. Colonists knew that they depended on the plants that grew around them – whether wild or cultivated, native or brought from England to recreate a familiar way of life and fulfill a longing for home. Today Arlington is home to many passionate gardeners and environmental advocates, but in general fewer of us live in close relationship with the land or get our hands in the dirt. We hope that this project encourages people to engage more deeply with what grows around us. We also hope that listeners will be inspired to think about the ideals of the 1775 Revolution, however imperfectly accomplished, and consider how we can advance them today. Here with some thoughts about why this 250th anniversary is so significant is Crystal Haynes Copithorne, a journalist, past member of the Arlington Human Rights Commission, and amazing Arlington volunteer.