A palimpsest for the tongue, 2025, chlorophyll prints of archival photographs on banana leaves, light, acrylic, 22 x 21 x 5 cm.
A palimpsest for the tongue uses the process of chlorophyll printing to transform banana leaves into material archives. The ephemeral nature of the prints - created by the sun and the plant’s process of photosynthesis - creates a palimpsest reflecting human intervention on plant life.
With a focus on what the history and migration of the banana reveals about Blackness and racial capitalism, the archival documents demonstrate how the banana, in the words of Françoise Vergès, “takes us to colonial slavery, capitalism, military coup, racial environmental politics, gender, sexuality, freedom, multinationals and the fabrication of poverty, precarious and fragile lives in the 21st century.”