Desire Lines
2020
Performative Participatory Walk, Zine and Meal
“Abolition is a plot against racial capitalism, which is all capitalism, not just some of it. It is a plot in a narrative sense. It is a plot in which the arc of change is always going resolutely toward freedom. It is a plot in a geographic sense. It is a plot in which we aim to make all space, not just some space, free in two senses. Free in the sense that it cannot be alienated, which is to say sold, by anybody to anybody. And free in the sense of non exclusive, there is no boundary or border that we keep somebody in or keep somebody out. That is abolition, that’s the plot, that’s my plot. It is an internationalist impulse that is part of what many of us call the Black radical tradition, which is open for all.” – Ruth Wilson Gilmore
“Our struggles must be driven by desire rather than pain; the latter model relies on the false assumption that if we show the pain, things will change.” – MTL Collective
Desire lines are informal trails, the most easily navigated route between origin and destination. They ignore the meticulously planned and maintained official paths and city sidewalks and track a new route. We make desire lines together between where we find ourselves and where we want to be. Our longing becomes a map, one that we make visible through daily practices
This project consisted of a collectively choreographed city walk/group exhibition and handmade zine. I walked with participants through the streets of Kreuzberg, Berlin where I had identified several common street weeds in chalk along our route between stops – encouraging participants to slow down, look more closely, and start a relationship with the plants in their neighborhood, beginning with naming and recognition. We ended the walk in Mariannenplatz, sitting in a circle in the center of the field directly on the park’s largest desire line (the cover image for the zine), where I served the group food including traditional home made German maultaschen, made from giersch (Aegopodium podagraria, a common edible weed) which I had gathered in Planterwald. The recipe for the giersch maultaschen and some reflections on the themes of relation, time, and care work were distributed in the form of the Desire Lines hand crafted zine.