Learning from the Land: Experiments with American Agriculture

Phoenix based desertArtLAB: April Bojorquez & Matthew Garcia. (lecture notes from isea2012)

Reintroducing an edible plant used by Native Americans; the Prickly Pear cactus.

In current society a deep hate exists towards cacti, this boarders on issues of rascism. This project 'reintroduces' the Prickly Pear cactus in vacant areas of Phoenix, rediscovering ancient overlooked practises. The Prickly Pear is an iconic plant and has many cultural and historic traces and can be found in mayor Mexican City Emblems. The cactus has many uses: its fibres, nutrients. Planting them is simple: just slice a cactus in half, put it in the ground and it will grow. Current inhabitants prefer non-native plants, which are hard to grow in this land and need constant irrigation. The cactus project started when a low-budget garden was planned in Phoenix, which means no irrigation. But local inhabitants were furious about cacti appearing in their neighbourhood. The Prickly Pear has become an ambassador for (re)connecting people to the traditional uses of local native plants.