The Wellcome Collection Podcast - The Root of the Matter: The Garden

The Root of the Matter: The Garden

07/21/22 • 32 min

Gardens are hugely personal, they are an extension of how we see ourselves and how we are in the world. They can also be a strong reminder of what is excluded as much as what is included. In this episode JC asks, what does the Garden reveal about the way we relate to the natural world and to each other?

Writer and grower Claire Ratinon explores colonial legacies in the garden, through our use of language and readiness to embrace and celebrate some plants, whilst excluding others.

We visit the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve, where artist and urban farmer, Michael Smythe showcases the uses of common so-called weeds like ribwort plantain and yarrow in locally produced remedies. Wilma Bol, a social prescriber at a local GP surgery, highlights the relationship between this urban nature reserve and the local community, when it comes to communal health.

The gardening activist, Tayshan Hayden-Smith, reflects on the image of horticulture today, and shares his introduction into guerilla gardening, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Presented by JC Niala

Produced by Alannah Chance and Mae-Li Evans

Music and sound design by Alice Boyd

Artwork by Faye Heller

The Root of the Matter is a Reduced Listening production for Wellcome Collection.

You can find the transcript for this episode, and more, on the Wellcome Collection website using this link:

https://wellcomecollection.org/series/YsQLZxEAACAAWQ4J

Writer and grower Claire Ratinon explores colonial legacies in the garden, through our use of language and readiness to embrace and celebrate some plants, whilst excluding others.

The gardening activist, Tayshan Hayden-Smith, reflects on the image of horticulture today, and shares his introduction into guerilla gardening, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Presented by JC Niala

Produced by Alannah Chance and Mae-Li Evans

Music and sound design by Alice Boyd

Artwork by Faye Heller

The Root of the Matter is a Reduced Listening production for Wellcome Collection.

You can find the transcript for this episode, and more, on the Wellcome Collection website using this link:

https://wellcomecollection.org/series/YsQLZxEAACAAWQ4J

Previous Episode

The Root of the Matter: Trailer

In Wellcome Collection’s new series, ‘The Root of the Matter’, we join JC Niala on a journey to understand how plants can provide a lens on human health, history and belonging.

Next Episode

The Root of the Matter: Farmland

Fruit and veg are a clear link to our relationship to the plant world. Yet many of us have little understanding of the farming industry and the impacts it has on our planet, in bringing crops to our plates.In this episode, JC untangles the knots of these complex global food systems - and focuses on a grain that is central to many of our diets, wheat.

Professor of Archeological Science, Martin Jones, shares how our early ancestors began to cultivate crops, and why crops may have begun to cultivate us too. Author and environmental activist George Monbiot sheds light on the impacts and fragility of the modern farming industry, its implications for our global food networks, and the changes that need to happen to make it more sustainable.We meet Iain Tolhurst, a farmer in Oxfordshire whose organic agricultural methods may provide a potential solution for how we might better manage our farmland.

Presented by JC Niala

Lead Produced by Alannah Chance

Produced by Mae-Li Evans

Music and sound design by Alice Boyd

Artwork by Faye Heller

The Root of the Matter is a Reduced Listening production for Wellcome Collection.

You can find the full transcript for this episode, and much more, on the Wellcome Collection website: The Root of the Matter | Wellcome Collection