I was nesting so I planted a city

Wood, canvas, acrylic paint, scarlet runner beans, dirt, suitcase

Jasmine Johnson

“I was nesting, so I planted a city”, is a modular living sculpture that imagines a future where the growth of a bean and the participation in this growth become the foundation for a new world. Scarlet runner beans are arranged in a suitcase sprouting and rooting over a period of two weeks. Each bean, picked and planted by the artist, is watered and given time to grow, commenting on the way people are disconnected from the things they consume, particularly through their migration.

Scarlet runner beans originated in the highlands of Central and South America, specifically in mountainous regions of Mexico and Guatemala, where they were cultivated by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. They were later introduced to Europe in the 1630s. This transatlantic migration resulted in the loss of use and purpose, and turned the bean into an ornamental plant, and then later on into one for consumption. The current agricultural system results in the same loss of origin, grocery stores alienate people from their produce. This makes the plant just another thing to consume, not to partake in and understand.

As a growing, time-based installation the piece sees water not just as a site of crisis and disconnection but also as a site of possible activation and continuity across time. Water as a transformational force shifts the bean from something that is stagnant to something that brings life. Everything, including something as small as a bean is involved with and within us, passed down generationally, a mindset growing large enough to create the foundation of a new world.