At the colloquium, Iryna Zamuruieva shared the strands of her research and creative work, where she works and thinks with certain plants. Having recently focused on Adonis vernalis in writing about the steppe and kin-relations, and geranium to study the making of militarized landscapes and feminist approaches to landscape photography, at the IWM Zamuruieva is now studying rapeseed and contemporary agricultural practices and land relations in Ukraine.
Drawing on her research on the life and work of Ukrainian anthropologist––and, as Zamuruieva argues, proto-ecofeminist––Kateryna Hrushevska, she is attempting to analyze the political ecology of land relations in Ukraine, developing methodologies rooted in Ukrainian intellectual thought and theories. In her presentation, Zamuruieva spoke about applying Hrushevska’s concept of gathering (zbyratstvo) to her research with plants and what it means for developing a more deep and nuanced understanding of environmental histories and the political ecology of land use.
Iryna Zamuruieva is an artist, activist, cultural geographer, and independent researcher. Through writing and photography, she explores human-environment relationships at different scales. During her fellowship at the IWM, she will build on strands of her research and creative work, where she considers the importance of particular plants. She has recently worked on land, resilience and climate justice at a sustainability charity in Scotland. She has also written about eco-feminist thought in Ukraine. She has curated Climate Art Labs, an interdisciplinary collaboration exploring the meanings and impacts of climate change in Ukrainian environments. Her written work has been published in various publications, including South/South Dialogues, Commons, Open Democracy, and Scottish Left Review.
Mariia Shynkarenko, Research Associate: Ukraine in European Dialogue, moderated the colloquium's discussion.
