Herbarius Rewilded

Herbarius Rewilded: From Medicinal Herbs to Modern Weeds is a research-based, interdisciplinary project that reimagines the 1484 Herbarius Latinus, a foundational text of European medicinal botany, as a visual history of colonization, environmental disruption, and resilience. This series traces the more than 500-year journey of medicinal herbs as they traveled through colonial networks, took root in new landscapes, and were gradually transformed from valued plants into weeds targeted for eradication.

Martin’s research revealed that more than one-third of the 150 plants documented in the Herbarius Latinus, printed before the Columbian Exchange, are tracked in global weed databases and subjected to chemical herbicides, environmental toxins that impact species from microbes to mammals. Initially transported across continents for healing gardens, these plants thrive in human-altered environments, often taking on new roles that provide food, support pollinators, and help restore depleted habitats.

Fifty plants from the original Herbarius Latinus, now considered weeds, are presented as pages from an imagined, unbound manuscript. Brush calligraphy draws from the ancient text reproduced in the 1484 volume, whose written knowledge reaches back to manuscripts created in the first-century CE. New botanical imagery is informed by the visual language of medieval woodblock prints, while handwritten marginalia combines contemporary botanical descriptions with the chemical formulas of herbicides recommended for each plant.