In Conversation: Giselle Beiguelman & Dr. Jonathan Ferrier about Botannica Tirannica

During this conversation on Sunday, June 2, 2024, São Paulo-based artist Giselle Beiguelman speaks about the genesis and evolution of Botannica Tirannica, on view at Koffler Arts from May 30 to October 20, 2024.
The exhibition explores how common botanical names both mirror and perpetuate societal prejudices against racial, cultural, gender, and social groups. Beiguelman was inspired to create this exhibition after receiving a gift of a Tradescantia zebrina seedling, commonly called “Wandering Jew”, a name referencing the 13th-century myth that recurred in Nazi propaganda. Beiguelman researched the complex, interwoven histories of botany, taxonomy and colonialism. This was (and remains) an act of erasure of Indigenous people’s knowledge and language and has resulted in violent discrimination targeting specific groups of people.
Additional insights were shared by Dr. Jonathan Ferrier -- a Mississauga, Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) scientist and Biology professor at Dalhousie University -- who has extensive botanical/taxonomic, historical and philosophical knowledge, and was engaged as Indigenous Botanical Content Lead for Botannica Tirannica.
Moderator: Josh Heuman, Head of Artistic Engagement, Koffler Arts.
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More about the speakers
GISELLE BEIGUELMAN is an award-winning artist, professor at the University of Sao Paulo and the author of several writings on digital culture. Beiguelman’s recent work investigates the colonialist imagination using AI technologies, collections and preservation methods for digital archives, and the aesthetics of memory in the 21st century. She is the author of Image Policies: surveillance and resistance in the datasphere (UBU Editora, 2021; 2nd ed. 2023) and Memory of amnesia: politics of oblivion (Edições Sesc, 2019), among others. Her works are part of the collections of museums in Brazil and abroad, such as ZKM (Germany), Jewish Museum in Berlin, MAC-USP, and Pinacoteca de São Paulo. She has received several national and international awards. She lives and works in São Paulo.
JONATHAN FERRIER, PhD, BSc, BA, is a Mississauga, Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) scientist and a Biology professor at Dalhousie University. He was a postdoctoral fellow and graduate student at the University of Ottawa, Department of Biology, The Montreal Botanical Garden, The New York Botanical Garden, The Ottawa Hospital, and Bruker BioSpin. Ferrier’s Indigenous heritage informs his work in food, medicine, material culture and ethnolinguistics. The Ferrier Lab is dedicated to ethnobotany, ethnolinguistics, taxonomy, ecotoxicology, conservation biology, phytochemistry, ethnopharmacology, metabolomics, disease diagnostics, for contributions to Indigenous rights, education, and appropriate healthcare.
Moderator: JOSH HEUMAN joined Koffler Arts in March 2023 as Head of Artistic Engagement. He earned a BA and an MA in Art History at York University, Toronto. Since 2000, he has been an educator and curator in Canada and the USA-at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery; Art Toronto 2021; the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Salt Lake Art Centre (now Utah Museum of Contemporary Art); Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art at Utah State University; and Joslyn Art Museum. Heuman has organized over 1,350 education and public programs; curated dozens of exhibitions; juried exhibitions and competitions; published essays and interviews; lectured at museums and universities; and consulted with dozens of visual artists.
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About Koffler Arts
Koffler Arts is a cultural platform that explores critical ideas and concerns of our time through exhibitions, publications, performances, literary events and digital initiatives. We examine complex issues through transformative art experiences that stimulate intercultural dialogue and position Jewish identity in conversation with diverse perspectives and global voices. For more information, please visit kofflerarts.org.
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About the Video
Videography & Editing: Neville Bryant; Second camera: Graham Bryant