Presentation short abstract

I present ethnographic material (photographs, video and objects) to explore care in human-plant relations. I follow bamboo across different spaces (forests, workshops, design studios and shops) to reveal the meanings and values tied to bamboo and its dissemination in global green imaginaries.

Presentation long abstract

Bamboo is widely promoted as an eco-friendly and innovative material able to support nature-based solutions to forest degradation, plastic pollution and poverty, often hiding the everyday material and affective practices carried out by rural producers, artisans, and community organizations. Drawing on feminist political ecology and multi-sited qualitative research, in this presentation, I use visual ethnographic and sensory material, photographs, video and fibres to explore care in human-plant relations. The visual material follows bamboo across different spaces (i.e. forests, workshops, studios and shops) to reveal the different meanings and values associated with bamboo and its dissemination in global green imaginaries. This visual material explores material and affective relations in sustaining bamboo landscapes and the tensions between green consumerism and ecological care work. The presentation also explores how visual storytelling can be used in the analysis of caring human-plant relations.