The photographic series A wish to resist well is part of the project Tiny Resistance, Crevices and Other Creatures, a research project on the plants that grow spontaneously in the city of Nicosia.
While endangered and/or vulnerable endemic flora grows outside urban contexts, spontaneous vegetation emerges in adverse conditions, congesting the city. In the dry neighbourhoods of the city, tiny rebellions manifest through cracks in concrete and walls.
Invasive and self-sown native plants are integral to urban ecologies. By breaking through the materiality of the city, they embody resilience in the face of rising temperatures, water scarcity, and the hard surfaces of the urban environment. These plants create paths for growth by taking advantage of microscopic cracks in concrete. The research on the weeds and seedlings inhabiting the city arose from the need to understand who these beings are and to give them a stage.
By walking around the area surrounding the Gardens of the Future (Nicosia Old Town), naturally emerging greenery in crevices and cracks, as well as cut-down trees—whose absence is marked by the remains of their trunks—were traced and mapped to create a photographic archive documenting their existence. Profiling these plants led to the creation of a weed identification booklet featuring thirty different species and tree stumps.
Through the lenses of Ecological Materialities and Transcultural Memory, the project seeks to shift attention toward the silent signs of resistance and to recognise absence. During its development, weeds and spontaneous plants were gathered to create a bouquet, a gesture of well-wishing. This bouquet of weeds is meant to honor and encourage all beings that are marginalised and striving to find their place in the world.
A wish to “resist well”.
