Title: The Plantriarchy
Artists: Gijsje Heemskerk & Bernice Nauta

During their residency at HMK, Bernice Nauta and Gijsje Heemskerk transform the chapel into a life-size set that acts as the stage for the first chapter of their three-part film The Plantriarchy, which follows the lives of plants through the past, present and future. How did plants end up in places where they are non-native and even considered 'invasive'? And looking back to our colonial past, have humans been such 'invasive species' too? In this semi-fictional story, it is not a human who is the protagonist of the story but a small seed that becomes the dominant species in the Netherlands. 

Chapter 1: The servant and the seed
The first chapter of the film is set against the backdrop of a life-size hand-painted decor with papier-mâché props. We see the journey of the seed on a ship towards the 17th century habour city of Hoorn. On arrival, it grows into a plant that even manages to enter a Reformed church service. 

Documentary interviews are interspersed with fictional scenes, and in doing so, the duo creates a story that invites people to think carefully about the human relationship with the world of plants. Both successive chapters, which will be developed after their residency at HMK, deal with the current climate crisis and a alternated worldview seen from the perspective of the plant protagonist. 

They are also guided by the curatorial guidelines of art historian Jessica Ullrich, in which she describes how to collaborate responsibly with non-human animals. They try to implement this as much as possible in their collaboration with plants. 

Gijsje Heemskerk and Bernice Nauta are part of the collective Sunflower Soup, with which they are exhibiting the three chapters of The Plantiarchy at Huis Marres in Maastricht in the summer of 2023.