Foragers (64 min, 2022) by Jumana Manna

Foragers by Berlin-based Palestinian artist Jumana Manna depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel with dry humor and a meditative pace. Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, it employs fiction, documentary and archival footage to portray the impact of Israeli nature protection laws on these customs. The restrictions prohibit the collection of the artichoke-like ’akkoub and za’atar (thyme), and have resulted in fines and trials for hundreds caught collecting these native plants. […] Foragers captures the joy and knowledge embodied in these traditions alongside their resilience to the prohibitive law. By reframing the terms and constraints of preservation, the film raises questions around the politics of extinction, namely who determines what is made extinct and what gets to live on.

Presented in the framework of Travelling Plants — a transdisciplinary exhibition exploring ecology, culture, and the natural world. Born from a creative residency at the French Institute of Pondicherry in March 2024, Travelling Plants is presented by the Goethe-Institut, Alliance Française de Colombo, in collaboration with the French Institute of Pondicherry and Studio Kayamai.