Shipping Roots

Plants have always moved between land masses with human aid. European colonialism accelerated this, and its legacy can be seen in landscapes across the world and the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. In in this companion book to the exhibition, Shipping Roots, Keg de Souza creates a narrative around plant species relating to her own cultural removal, drawing from her experiences as a person whose ancestral lands were colonised. The exhibition explores how plants moved over oceans and lands, transported in the hulls of ships, all part of the colonial legacies of the British Empire. Specifically, these stories link Australia, India and the UK and shows us that the entanglement of plants and people are tied to understanding place and belonging. This book includes high quality photography of the exhibition as well as essays and recipes by numerous contributors.