Anna Zilahi’s solo exhibition at Liget Gallery centers on the stinging nettle (Urtica), a plant that encapsulates humanity’s ambiguous relationship with nature: it is both a troublesome weed and a potent medicinal herb.
Since the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens, humans have sought to dominate their natural surroundings; since the advent of agriculture, they have exploited and commercialized them.
Yet, our survival remains fundamentally tied to the natural world. The Enlightenment ideals that established rigid dichotomies—such as nature versus culture and body versus mind—now appear increasingly inadequate.
To challenge these binaries, Zilahi draws on Jacques Derrida’s concept of the pharmakon, a term that signifies both remedy and poison. The nettle embodies this duality: its sting causes pain, yet its properties can heal.
This paradox mirrors the complexities of our relationship with nature itself. In her work, Zilahi approaches the nettle as a non-human entity with mythical, material, and active dimensions.
Her ritualistic, almost collaborative engagement with the plant opens up new possibilities for connection and understanding.
The exhibition includes new objects, photographs, and the video work Urtica (2022), which collectively examine the shifting dynamics and oscillation of the human-nature relationship and the concept of the pharmakon through an ecofeminist lens.