Battlefield is an artwork by Gabriella Hirst, a garden of plants whose officially registered cultivar names reference theatres of war, armed conflict and the military. The project began in 2014 in Berlin and has since expanded into the current assemblage at Gedenkstätte Augustaschacht. These plant varieties were bred and given these names over the last 500 years by gardeners, plant breeders and nurseries and have been sourced from across Europe and the UK. With each plant carrying the language of violence and conflict, the garden asks us to consider how we may tend to difficult histories over time. This website indexes the stories told by Battlefield’s assembled plants, tracing entanglements of conquest and care within the language of western gardening.
Battlefield is an artwork by Gabriella Hirst, a garden of plants whose officially registered cultivar names reference theatres of war, armed conflict and the military. The project began in 2014 in Berlin and has since expanded into the current assemblage at Gedenkstätte Augustaschacht. These plant varieties were bred and given these names over the last 500 years by gardeners, plant breeders and nurseries and have been sourced from across Europe and the UK. With each plant carrying the language of violence and conflict, the garden asks us to consider how we may tend to difficult histories over time. This website indexes the stories told by Battlefield’s assembled plants, tracing entanglements of conquest and care within the language of western gardening.