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The Root of the Matter

Join JC Niala on a journey to understand how plants can provide a lens on human health, history and belonging.

  • Series
Photograph of a cyanotype. The emulsion of the cyanotype has been roughly spread onto the textured watercolour paper leaving brush marks around the edge. In the centre of the blue tone of the emulsion is the white silhouette of two small plants showing their leaves, stems and roots.
The Root of the Matter. © Faye Heller for Wellcome Collection.

Our lives are intrinsically entangled with the plant world: through the food we eat, the medicines we use, and the spaces we inhabit. In this five-part series, writer and maker JC Niala explores what the plant world has to teach us about being human. Join JC in conversation with growers, scientists, writers and activists on a journey through five different landscapes, from the familiarity of the garden to the seemingly hostile wasteland. We’ll take a closer look at the entanglements and stories underpinning the plant world to understand how plants can provide a lens on human health, history and belonging.

Presented by JC Niala
Produced by Alannah Chance and Mae-Li Evans
Music and sound design by Alice Boyd

 

‘The Root of the Matter’ is a Reduced Listening production for Wellcome Collection.