Growing up with plants

In his introduction to the piece “A Simile (or Analogy) for the student of nature”, Grigoris Rizakis draws attention to the idea that great differences exist between plants of the same species, and no plant is categorically alike. Elements of the unknown are at work in how a particular plant came to be, why it branched one way and not another, and how it has developed through a unique conversation with its environment. In this earlier work, Grigoris was interested in reversals, and in particular, the replacement of the word “plant” with “human”. This seemingly simple substitution of words, and text-based collage (serious editing, as it were) helps us re-think habitual definitions.

After we shared a drink online between Greece and The Netherlands, Grigoris showed me some of his works-in-progress. It made sense to me to put him in touch with the initiators and co-hosts of the artist-run space Klupko, Igor Sevcuk and Go-Eun Im, whom are both deeply attuned to what it means to grow up and around plants, the solace they offer when there is a chance to grow together, and the psychic rupture that happens when plants and their caretakers are separated.

I came across the work of Grigoris through his social media account where he had been posting some melancholic photos of his former apartment in The Hague and the dear plants that he had – very much against his will – left behind there. For a little more than five years, he had been living in The Hague, together with an ever-expanding collection of more than 200 carefully chosen and beloved plants. Although we had a few mutual friends and had been living here around the same time, we had never met in person and I’d never met his plants either. Seeing his photos, I felt a strong connection between us simply because of the fact that he had been able to love and appreciate the city where I currently live at a time when I was annoyed and disappointed with much of my environment. His emotionally evocative personal snapshots forced me to take another look at where I live, something, I am convinced good artworks do.

Back in Utrecht, during a recent visit to Klupko, I was struck by the magnificent, throne-shaped monstera plant that Igor has raised over the past 15 years in various locations in The Netherlands. My own monstera sits high in its own chair too (in one of the good chairs!) and many others I know have let these plants take prime spots in their homes or studios to be as comfortable as possible, sometimes at the expense of already limited working and living space. There must be a reason for this welcomed displacement, and looking at the work of Grigoris might offer some ideas about that. Daily life in response to the growth cycles of plants provoked him think more along the lines of roots and branches rather than grids, and it is fitting that his work here is in the company of Klupko’s green inhabitants and their hosts. For Grigoris, swaps, substitutions and linguistic alterations help us think poetically, yet unromantically, about how we are transformed by plants in the environments we’ve made for them to share with us. In essence it’s a way of appreciating how we come into ourselves through those endlessly evolving interactions.

Marianna Maruyama