Tobacco is one of the pharmacy’s remedies but, unlike the others, its cultivation is done through a home care network. Each caregiver receives a kit that includes the tobacco plant or its seeds, a letter and a chant to care for the spirit of the plant. The network is conceived as a living organism that continues to expand from year to year. Caregivers can in turn continue to distribute the seeds of the plant, so that new caregivers may connect with the tobacco and its spirit, restoring the plant’s dignity violated by five hundred years of colonialism and vicious capitalism.
Note about Tabaco Tarab
Tabaco Tarab is a song for the spirit of tobacco, much in the way Bob Marley said all songs come from the Gods. Tabaco Tarab is an invitation to listen and feel the energy of the plants, this one and others. To feel their presence is a gift for all of us, because to really hear – and feel it, we need to feel reach inside ourselves, and in this connection of listening, caring and interdependence, it is possible to create other forms of life. Let it happen. Enjoy the listening!
Dear Julia,
Thank you for accepting my invitation and taking care of this sacred plant,
which was raped and which is still being violated to this day.
Incredible as it may seem, I planted its seeds at the spring equinox,
on my terrace, in the middle of the lockdown.
I planted these seeds so small that they seem to be nothing,
in the worst conditions
but completely hopeful.
The seeds were given to me by the Mujeres do Gau,
a wonderful collective of retired women
who run a garden on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.
I packed a sacred twig from the South in my suitcase
and took it to Barcelona. I waited a few weeks and
out of the darkness of the earth this little plant was born.
The tobacco you’re going to take care of is part of the remedies of
Guerrilla Drugstore,
a street pharmacy of medicinal plants that were once
suppressed,
capitalized,
forgotten
and made invisible,
which is being born in Barcelona to expand outwards.
Most of the pharmacy’s remedies are cultivated by taking up land in the city
but in the case of tobacco, it is grown indoors,
managed through a home-based care network
of which you are part.
As a caregiver, you receive the plant on the day of the summer solstice,
under a totally favorable sky,
with a partial eclipse of the sun and a new moon.
Please note that it is plant that loves heat and humidity.
Plenty of water, but well filtered so that no deposits remain.
The direct sun of the European climate dries its leaves too much
so you can often humidify them by recreating
a home-made tropical microclimate.
Each caregiver can continue to weave
the tobacco’s web of connection,
by distributing new plants to other beings
who can take care of them
and be nurtured by them.
Part of the tobacco kit, a music composed by Younes Zarhoni.
Tabac Tarab. A song for the spirit of the plant
because as Bob Marley said
– all songs come from the Gods.
As our dear Karen said, it is an invitation to listen
and feel the energy of the plants, of this one and others.
To feel them is a gift first for us,
because to do so, we need to feel and listen to ourselves inside,
and in this connection of listening, caring and interdependence
it is possible to create other forms of life.
Let’s make this happen
Please, savour the listening.
At Fluchtpunkt exhibition, I present a listening experience inspired by tobacco.
The listening experience begins with a body practice which enables the visitors to connect with themselves, with each other, and with the tobacco. The plant is physically present in the gallery as a scent: some essential tobacco oils are diffused in the exhibition space, in order to affect the psycho-physical states and guide us during the experience. Once the sensitive interconnection is settled, we listen to the chant Tabac Tarab. At the end of the experience the participants can choose to join the tobacco caring network by receiving the caregivers letter and some tobacco seeds.
