RECORDING THE MEDICINAL PLANTS OF SIWAI, BOUGAINVILLE (2016)
Siwai is a region on the island of Bougainville, which belongs to Papua New Guinea but has an independent status. Life here is threatened by big changes in the political situation, culture and technology. Concerns are held about the erosion of traditional knowledge in an increasingly modern and globalised society. Kate Robertson captures the old knowledge of Siwai’s medicinal plants and their scientific and cultural-medicinal qualities. She works with a special photographic process: in her lumen prints the leaves are not only exposed, they also enter into a direct chemical reaction with the photographic paper. The story that flows through the veins of the leaves thus becomes a chronicle for future generations. She collaborated with the local community and their chiefs, who contributed their knowledge, to reunite with a lost tradition of medicinal herbs.
