PROPOSAL FOR COURTNEY PLACE LIGHTBOX HERBARIUM 2014 Proposed exhibition concept and objectives To create a herbarium documenting 16 self-seeded plants found on Courtney Place or adjoining streets. The exhibition will celebrate the small and often overlooked plants that exist in pavement cracks and in-between spaces, and makes public their contribution to urban biodiversity. Many of the plants will have beneficial properties including medicinal and culinary uses, or are pioneer species in reestablishing healthy ecosystems, preventing erosion and building soil. Some may be poisonous. The plants are often considered weeds because we disapprove of their behaviour or appearance, and would otherwise be sprayed or removed. This project will reimagine these plants as a resource and as a symbol of resistance and resilience. The ‘Courtney Place Herbarium’ is a hymn to the marginalised, the overlooked, transient, displaced and diasporic. It celebrates and raises questions about diversity and aesthetic value in an urban context. The project has developed out of consideration of public art and photographic debates about the relationship between the artist and community and the politics of representation.