Kasia Navarra "Ladies' practices"

Ladies' practices My herbarium is the collection of means applied by our grandmothers and great-grandmothers to alleviate women in their suffering and bring relief in their per-tragedies. Huge power has been ascribed to herbs. They chase away illnesses, protect from evil, provide goodness and bring love. Collected together with droplets of dew in the first rays of the Sun in order to enhance their effects. Used in the rituals of cleansing the space and averting evil spells, or kept close to the body to increase vitality. Deeply rooted in folk traditions is the relationship between herbs and women. Gammers, witchdoctors, midwives. They are the ones possessing the knowledge of the properties of plants and mixtures made of them. They provide help in removing burthen, protecting ladies' virtues in the eyes of the society. They pass their wisdom and experience on to new generations. They constitute a circle of women, intimate space to unite in joys and women's anguish. Everything is photosensitive. A Scott, Mary Somerville, by examining the phenomenon of sun rays being absorbed by vegetable juices, contributed with her works to the creation of one of the first photographic processes. Anthotype (Gr. anthos – flower) is a 19th century technique of creating images with the use of emulsions made from plant materials. Just like in the old days contact with the Sun had special magical meaning when harvesting the herbs, also here it is characteristic that the image comes into being when exposed to sunlight. Specificity of photograms, just like the magical effects of herbs, is elusive and ephemeral. With the course of time and absorbed doses of light it fades away, just like human memory. "Ladies' practices" tell the tale of women's commonality and their close relationship with nature.