Demons in the Vegetable Garden: a Botanical History of the Mind

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dc.contributor.authorAnderson, Nicole R.
dc.date.accessioned2015-06-01T16:50:21Z
dc.date.available2015-06-01T16:50:21Z
dc.date.issued2015-05-11
dc.descriptionThesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Alfred University Honors Program.en_US
dc.description.abstractBefore Darwin and the microscope, reality was a product of our fears, desires, and fantasies. Before modern science, nature adhered to a taxonomy of good and evil. Herbs were keys to immortality, resurrection, conception, and warding off innumerable demons. So much as touching the wrong plant could turn you into a sheep or stop your heart. Good and evil were not always distinct, and then as now it is often the most poisonous plants that save lives. Though we have found little evidence of demons or sheep people, as science advances, the line between life and death seems more and more permeable. Like the witch doctors of our Neolithic ancestors, we continue to look for the plant or chemical that will extend life, bring back the dead, and keep us young forever. This series of paintings brings ancient superstition and modern science together through this history of herbal myth and medicine. The work presents a collective unconscious imagining built up over thousands of years.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10829/6868
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rights.urihttps://libraries.alfred.edu/AURA/termsofuseen_US
dc.subjectHonors thesisen_US
dc.subjectArten_US
dc.subjectPaintingen_US
dc.subjectHerbal medicineen_US
dc.titleDemons in the Vegetable Garden: a Botanical History of the Minden_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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