Plant blindness is a term coined by two botanists, James H. Wandersee and Elisabeth E. Schussler, in the late 1990s. They define it as ’the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s environment; the inability to recognize the importance of plants in the biosphere and in human affairs; the inability to appreciate the aesthetic and unique biological features of the life forms that belong to the Plant Kingdom; and the misguided anthropocentric ranking of plants as inferior to animals and thus, as unworthy of consideration’. In the current global context of rising temperatures due to climate change, plant blindness poses an urgent consequence, and the role of plants in most urban surroundings presents an altered meaning.
My photographic journey across the UAE cities is an exploration of patterns and narratives in the life of plants as shaped by humans in public spaces, both in formal as well as informal urban settings. I start with the most visible - the green areas planted to decorate streets and neighbourhoods. I then discover how shopkeepers and residents plant and maintain their own gardens. These can be a few flower pots in front of a shop or bigger gardens planted in front of residential buildings. In hidden alleys of the inner cities or in remote industrial areas, even find small fruit and vegetable gardens. Personally, all these efforts manifest the need and the beauty of human connection with nature in the most surprising settings and the need to feel ‘at home’ in the city, manifesting itself through gardening. Whether carefully designed by city planners or improvised by its inhabitants, plants deserve to be seen as more than decoration or produce.