Sunday, November 5, 2017 32)C4'K,C4'( 41*%0)3421*,*43C,L3('*)30(&(342(00H('LC'LC%0 ')C%0,,0HC1)*((1*4'3404'( COVERPG STORY 2&3 L)0$(-&,,((L)34-/*)$34'0)(&)%3%C, )C%0,'3K(/)*+C1*+0H3C4 &4HC"Y *%0+I0)Y *%0)('*)" Amaranth, which grows wild in the Red Hook neighbourhood of Brooklyn, NY. The plant is among many New School students and faculty repot seedlings in preparation for the ‘Seeds of Change’ exhibition. introduced to New York via ships’ ballast long ago. D,%0(LC(0#K,*)0H (0%0)C,&)*K0C4 C4H)3'3(LK*)' D(00HC)'3(' 13'30(Y1)0C'342C¢*C'342 2C)H04&(342(00H( 20)+34C'0(L3('*)" 4C'3%0'*D/)31CC4H ANNIE CORREAL among several new species growing part of ‘Seeds of Change’, an ongoing *)'LD+0)31C/*&4H34 NYT SYNDICATE along Gowanus Creek, was Amaran- exploration of the phenomenon by art- thus crispus, native to South America. ist Maria Thereza Alves. Alves, whose 'L0(*3,*/)3('*,Y42@ BOUT 140 years ago, a “Amaranth,” said Marisa Prefer, a exhibition on local ballast plants runs ,C4H\H*1&+04'3420#*'@ botanist named Addison gardener leading a group through the at the galleries of the Sheila C Johnson Brown noticed an unfa- same neighbourhood, picking up a Design Center at The New School, is 31K,C4'(/)*+D(3CC4H miliar red-tendriled plant stalk of the crumbly plant, which was the most recent winner of the Vera List growing around Red Hook, spilling out from a crack in the side- Center Prize for Art and Politics. She 0,(0$L0)0'LC''&)40H DBrooklyn. Trade had lately picked up, walk like a Medusa head. “These wild has spent nearly two decades uncover- he told readers of the Bulletin of the urban plants can survive in the craziest ing long-buried colonial histories using &K34 0K*(CC)3Y Torrey Botanical Club in 1879, and as circumstances.” ballast seeds, which can lie dormant in ships arrived, they dumped thousands This year, a few dozen New Yorkers the soil for hundreds of years, only to 34,C4HG of tons of ballast — earth and stones have been learning about and growing sprout in the right conditions. used to stabilise ships — that carried plant species that were inadvertently Born in Brazil, Alves has explored seeds from far-off lands: The red plant, brought to the city in ship ballast as several European and British port cities, creating a floating garden using seeds native to Africa and North Amer- ica found in the soil of Bristol, England; documenting exotic plants from Asia and elsewhere that turned up in peo- ple’s yards in Reposaari, Finland. “I liked the idea that these plants were witnesses to things we would never understand, to paths of trade that we no longer have information *%0)('*)" &4HC"Y *%0+I0)Y about,” said Alves, in a phone interview. “They are living there in our midst and saying ‘hi.’” This is Alves’ first look at ballast seeds brought to the Americas. The exhibition, ‘Maria Thereza Alves, Seeds of Change: New York — A Botany of Colonisation’, will include examples of local ballast flora, watercolour maps, and drawings and texts by the artist ex- ploring two centuries of maritime trade, including the slave trade. The director of the Vera List Center and one of the judges for the prize, Carin Kuoni, said the project had struck the judges as an original way to track history — and also as a powerful comment on contemporary political reality. “What struck us as pertinent when looking at Maria Thereza’s project was its focus on migration and forced migra- tion,” she said. Alves, who lives in Berlin, visited New York twice to do research. The first thing she learned, she said, was how lit- tle of New York was actually New York. “New York was hilly and swampy and they decided to drain it and make it more linear,” she said. Low-lying areas and marshland were commonly filled in with refuse, ashes, sand — and bal- Michael Castrovilla, a research assistant for the ‘Seeds of Change’ project, tends to plants in his dorm room at the New School in New York. last from around the world. Ballast was taken from ports by boat to Harlem and she turned to historical records, includ- of a New School building for their fi- shock of a flower, like a tiny mohawk, elsewhere. ing the list of ballast plants identified nal planting parties, where they would called dwarf coral, or celosia. It was Solid ballast was largely replaced by by Brown. With the help of a graduate transfer their plants from flimsy con- native to East Africa and grew around water ballast in the early 20th century, research fellow at the Vera List Center, tainers to the black plastic bags in which Southeast Asia, as well as New York. but ships continued to bring ballast into Michael Castrovilla, she came up with a they will be exhibited. She had been interested in the New York until after World War II. After list of more than 400 species found on Castrovilla, the researcher, had sent project for a couple of reasons, she said. delivering goods and arms to bombed- seven sites. students regular emails reminding them “First, I was interested in the idea of out English cities during the war, ships Prefer, the resident gardener at to tend to their plants, but not all had plants and migration and involuntary mi- sailed back filled with rubble. Pioneer Works, a cultural centre in Red flourished. Some of his own had failed to gration. They’re kind of byproducts that “There was nothing else,” Alves said. Hook, worked with the show’s curators, thrive on the windowsill of his room in a didn’t mean to come over.” Her mother Bristol Basin, a patch of land under the Kuoni and Amanda Parmer, winnowing Fifth Avenue dorm. was a refugee from Laos, she said. “Sec- Franklin D Roosevelt Drive in the Kips down the list to some 40 species that were “My blinds are often closed,” he said. ond, I just wanted plants in my room.” Bay neighbourhood in Manhattan, is still abundant in the city. New School “But the flax is going crazy.” made from “stones, bricks and rubble students, faculty and staff, and children The students plopped their ballast from the bombed city of Bristol.” enrolled in a free summer programme plants into bags, adjusting the roots, (Cover: A dwarf coral flower growing along the In other cities, Alves took soil di- at the Miccio Center in Red Hook, were adding water and soil. Alana Giarrano, an waterfront in the Red Hook neighbourhood of rectly from ballast sites and germinated invited to grow them from seeds. undergraduate, appeared with a box con- Brooklyn, NY.) the seeds. In New York, many ballast Recently, the growers gathered at taining milk thistle, St John’s wort, sting- sites had been paved or built over, so Pioneer Works and in the courtyard ing nettle and a plant with a fuzzy pink Ballast plants including smartweed sprouting from the sidewalk at Sullivan and Van Brunt Streets in the Red Hook neighbourhood of Brooklyn. The plants are among many that will be included in ‘Seeds of Change’, an exploration by the artist Maria Thereza Alves of how plants were carried around the world. Bindweed, with its white flower, on King Street in the Red Hook neighbourhood of Brooklyn, NY. &4HC"Y *%0+I0)Y ($00K(NC'C),&('0) *,,0"IC,,LC+K3*4(L3K TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK recently. Out of four categories, MES won 25-20. In the Under-19 Girls’ category, the nationals to be held in Delhi, India. DOHA three finals and a runner-up position. The MES won against Birla Public School in Physical Education teachers Salim Under-17 Boys’ team won against Ideal straight sets to clinch the title while the J Nadaf and Shani coached the Boys’ ES Indian School won the overall Indian School in two straight sets scor- MES Under-17 Girls’ team was the first and Girls’ teams respectively. Principal championship in the Boys’ and ing 25-18 and 25-23. The Under-19 Boys’ runner-up in the tournament. With the Hameeda Kadar congratulated the win- Girls’ categories in the CBSE team also won in a similar fashion defeat- wins, the Boys’ Under-17 and Under-19, ners and wished them the best for the Qatar Cluster Volleyball Tournament held ing Ideal Indian School and scoring 25-18, as well as the Girls’ Under-19 qualified for nationals. 23),(k'0C+,3/'(/**'IC,,1LC+K3*4(L3K TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK DOHA DEAL Indian School Under-17 Girls’ Football team emerged champions in the CBSE Qatar Cluster Football Tournament held at MES Indian School recently. The team, captained by Sara Walid, defeated DPS-MIS in the finals while winning against Birla Public School in the semi-finals. The IIS team qualified to take part in the CBSE National Tournament scheduled to be held at Central India Acad- emy, Madhya Pradesh, India this month. Principal Syed Shoukath Ali congratulated the team on their victory. 3'"13)1&3' &4HC"Y *%0+I0)Y @ $34(34'0)@(1L**, (130410K)*.01'(1*+K0'3'3*4 TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK and Grade VIII Jayeda. Their project ti- DOHA tled ‘A Better Today for A Better Tomor- row: Eco-town’ was based on the topic PS Modern Indian School (DPS- Renewable Sources of Energy. Their MIS) won the inter-school compe- well-constructed model portrayed many tition on science projects for Asian aspects of an eco-town that makes use of schools in Qatar organised by Bright renewable sources of energy.