Pray to Flowers – A Plot of Disalienation (2022–2023)

Annalee Davis with Yoeri Guépin and the botanicals
Pray to Flowers – A Plot of Disalienation
2022–2023
From ‘Pray to Flowers – A Plot of Disalienation’, 2022–2023
Living apothecary: selection of plants and painted contour lines on plastered wall Dimensions variable

Annalee Davis
A Blessing for Disalienation
2023
From ‘Pray to Flowers – A Plot of Disalienation’, 2022–2023 Sound work
2 minutes 28 seconds
Credit: Lowrey Leon (pianist and producer), Janelle Headley (vocal trainer) and Mousike Studio

Produced by Sharjah Art Foundation Courtesy of the artists

Overview

Annalee Davis is a Barbadian visual artist whose practice combines history and biography in her discussions of ‘post-plantation economies’. Pray to Flowers – A Plot of Disalienation (2022–2023) is a site-specific installation involving the steady transformation of the Bait Al Hurma courtyard into a sanctuary and living apothecary, made in collaboration with Yoeri Guépin and others. The space features a suite of embroidered drawings mirroring the densely layered garden; A Blessing for Disalienation (2023), a soundtrack of spoken words; a seed repository, reading material and tea service. Referencing marginal lands within plantantions given to enslaved people for sustenance which became sites of resistance, this plot acknowledges the biosphere’s regenerative capacity.