PEACE IN THE FIELD (2023)

Artist book from Dictionary series, Vol. #1

Handmade paper with Cytisus scoparius, inkjet printing

Number of copies: 13

Three copies are numbered (No. 11, 12 and 13)

Material and design of covers vary

Conceived as a way to package the results of an artistic research at the Malt AIR (Ebeltoft, Denmark), “Peace in the Field” ultimately gives rise to the Dictionary series. This series will consist of tiny books that differ in their form of embodiment but are united by a concept. According to the idea, each issue will be dedicated to a specific invasive plant and the vocabulary used to describe it in media, essays, poetry, and fiction. Compositionally, the books refer to a simple dictionary structure, featuring two versions of selected expressions: one in Russian and the other in the language of the territory where the research on the specific invasive plant take place.

In “Peace in the Field” the material for the work is drawn from a Danish thesaurus and Common broom (Cytisus scoparius) — a shrub of the legume family, widespread in Jutland. The title of the book (as well as the QR code refers to the publication) apply to Bogomolova’s essay on the ecological history of Cytisus scoparius. In the text, an analysis of the vocabulary describing plant invasions transforms into a discussion about movements and invasions, phobias and chauvinism, while reflections on the use of broom in Danish culture and the iconography of garden hedges are woven into considerations of anthropology of borders and exclusion, foreignness, hospitality, and social trust.

“Peace in the Field” is created on handmade paper with Common broom. The illustrations in the book ate plant prints made from various parts of Cytisus scoparius. In addition to the dictionary, a quote from Knud Poulsen’s essay collection Breve fra Ensomheden (“Letters from the Island of Solitude”, 1936) is included:

“The tall bush of the common broom looks oriental. It is green, like the plumage of a prophet: fanatically poisonous green; bristling with tall, slender shoots like minarets, studded with yellow crescents of buds and black sabers of seed pods. These intimidating and curved punishing swords explode upward on hot days with a little snap, with a scalding and energetic crackle and pop, as if a miniature bombardment is taking place…”