NANIGRADDON//ABOUT//CV//INSTAGRAM//SHOP
somewhere between underground cables and overhead flights
The origins of glasshouses date back to the Romans, emperor Tiberius wanted to eat cucamelons (a cucumber-type vegetable) all year round. A small mobile garden bed was made and moved, and covered with translucent material, tracking the sun to enable the cucamelon to grow year-round. This
preliminary glasshouse allowed the modification of the natural for extravagant purposes, in a society that admired wealth and beauty. As their wealth and power grew and their empire expanded they gathered riches from further countries eventually colonising part of Britain. The Roman influence on Britain was later used as part of the justification for its colonial project. Proclaiming Roman influence had enabled Britain to become more civilised and beautiful, and therefore their colonial project was grounded in the eventual betterment of the colonies, not destruction. Elements of the Roman Empire have been shrunken down, commodified, and spread around the globe both through glasshouses and global food economies.
On the body, historical beautification attempts are mirrored in the contemporary beauty industry. One example is shellac nails, and teeth whitening which temporarily change the colour of my nails and teeth. By using UV light contained in a mouth guard or manicure bar, I am able to better my appearance through monthly payments. Shellac, too, is a material that has been historically extracted by the West from colonised lands to profit from. I look at my phone screen, my nails, and the houseplant by my bed.
I go to the fridge and open it to look at the relatively empty shelves, one with an untouched jar of pickles imported from Italy. Objects that surround my inner and outer experience are often a manifestation of the colonial project. I stand there at the fridge with my nails done, my teeth whitened, with my glass skin in a glass house in a perfectly manicured environment, manicured by my ancestors through the colonial project so that I can stand on the other side of the globe from my provenance and feel that my life is normal.
