My work with Botanical Gardens has happened over 2 decades and is on going. Somehow Botanical Gardens have always been part of my being. Growing up close to Coimbra's Garden, I would go there practically every week. As an artist I filmed there, drew, photographed. When I was pregnant with my son Mateus, I met a special gardener working at the Botanical Garden of Coimbra and made a little artist film with him. Later on, I worked and took part on artist residencies in other gardens such as London's Kew Gardens, Edinburgh Botanical Garden,  Porto Botanical Garden and Herbarium (June 2024) and I will be working with Star Garden (Jardim da Estrela) in Lisbon in between May and November 2025.

 

This page documents some of that ongoing work.

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This research around botanical gardens, which I call now Rewilding culture - plowing the verb approaches the 4 kingdoms present in the gardens: animal, mineral, vegetal, human. Part of the research is the assemblage of collection of plants that will later on be transformed into an imaginary herbarium.

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These integrate plants with collage and drawing, reflecting the intersection of non-human realms with human culture, mythology, and their expansion into a cosmic and sacred connection. In the garden’s context, linking human culture with the essence of plants invites a journey into the untouched, wild realm of inner perception—one that exists both within and beyond culture. The word culture itself derives from the Latin cultivare, meaning to sow. This project reinterprets that act—not as plowing the land, but as plowing the verb, a force that constructs and dismantles civilizations, and through the garden, harmonizes with nature, Gaia, and Logos—the spirit and the body.

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This work is both timely and urgent. Nature is transforming, and gardens are, by definition, altered expressions of nature. Humanity is also evolving, becoming more receptive to new paradigms in the face of increasing risks and uncertainties about the future. The crucial question, paraphrasing Carl Jung, is not about solving problems, for some problems are inherently unsolvable. Instead, as Jung suggests, it is about changing the way we perceive the world. How can we shift our thinking to embrace a higher form of cognition—one that is rooted in heartfelt connection with Gaia, the Cosmos, and the spirit? A new, heart-centered cognition is needed, and artists have always worked in this way.