FLORA - new work by Zoë Nash & Bev Goodwin

Zoë Nash is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Her brightly coloured, celebratory works explore a slow and mindful accumulation of repeated and highly detailed mark making. Reflecting her love of nature, Zoë’s works increasingly draw on selected plant and flower motifs as inspiration. Frequently initiated by things seen, things spoken, or things remembered, narrative and nostalgia are also used to trigger personal connection with viewers.

Zoë has a Master of Fine Arts degree (Whitecliffe, 2002), a Bachelor of Arts degree (Auckland University, 1991) and adult teaching qualifications. Finalist nominations include the Parkin Drawing Prize, Trust Waikato Contemporary Art Awards, Small Sculpture Prize Waiheke Community Art Gallery, and several Finalist nominations in the Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Awards.

Zoë is also a recipient of the Whitecliffe Post Grad Scholarship. She currently lives in coastal west Auckland, creating from her garden studio, as well as being actively involved in arts education.

Delightfully Pernicious – Zoë Nash

The works in this show document and celebrate my ongoing fascination for our natural world. More recently I find that I am increasingly drawn to selected plant life that is considered somewhat troublesome. Delightfully Pernicious focusses on three main species of plant: the arum lily, the nasturtium, and the brugmansia. Each of these introduced, non-native to Aotearoa, New Zealand plants could loosely fall into the category of ‘noxious’ (harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant)1. Both arum lilies and nasturtiums are listed on the Department of Conservation’s website as weeds. They state that, “invasive weeds are destroying our native plant communities and transforming the natural landscapes that make New Zealand unique”2. All three plants have varying degrees of toxicity which, in some cases, can be fatal.

These three flowering specimens, which I consider incredibly beautiful both in terms of colour and sculptural form, have provided me with much delight and joy over the decades. I remember them fondly from early childhood walks in Britain with my grandad and his dogs, and I’m still drawn to them now. Many’s the time that I’ve encouraged my long-suffering partner to clamber up or down steep, slippery hillsides, along the edges of precarious riverbanks, through fences and between barbed wires, in order to pick me a perfect example spotted in the distance.

I love the strong, slightly magical shape of the angel’s trumpet (brugmansia) flower, similar to a witch’s hat or dancing figure. I adore the heady, intoxicating perfume, and the abundant blooms. I admire the simplicity and purity of the arum lily’s form and colour, and I find the flat, round leaves of the creeping nasturtium with its diminutive, winding stalks and beautifully bright flowers, incredibly attractive.

All of these plants have been grown in my own garden at one time or another, lovingly tended to, albeit it with an awareness and respect of their shared and somewhat problematic histories. There is something mildly thrilling and rebellious about the contradictory nature of each. To varying degrees there is an inherent danger. Admirers are encouraged to look but not to touch, and increasingly discouraged to plant and to nurture.

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The stunningly simple arum lily has historically had multiple opposing meanings. It has often been used in Christian religion as a symbol of purity, rebirth and resurrection, yet is simultaneously thought to be bad luck as it is often seen at funerals. It is commonly considered a bad omen to bring lilies into the house. However, my own mother carried a bouquet of arum lilies on her wedding day. Their single yellow spadix wrapped within the large, white petal (spathe) also represents fertility.

The arum lily (also known as the death lily) “originates from South Africa. [It was] introduced to New Zealand as an ornamental garden plant and thought to have naturalised by 1870. All parts of the plant [are] poisonous and it is one of the National Poison Centre’s top ten poisonous plants; being consistently involved in unintentional or childhood poisonings.”3

The nasturtium is considered to be an edible and also medicinal plant (I’ve added it to many salads, enjoying its somewhat peppery taste), yet it can also be toxic in large amounts. It has some components that can affect the digestive tract and kidneys, and the seeds contain trierucine that specifically affects the heart 4. Although nasturtium is not a legally declared pest plant, it may still be invasive in some situations 5. It smothers low-growing habitats and prevents the establishment of native plant seedlings 6. Useful, visually attractive but... increasingly undesirable in New Zealand.

The name nasturtium comes from the Latin Nasus Tortus meaning convulsed or twisted nose, referring to the spicy flavour of the plant. In the language of flowers, nasturtiums stand for patriotism. It is also known as the flower of heroes signifying conquest and victory in battle 7. “Monet was reported to really like nasturtiums and planted them along the path in front of his house in Giverny.”7

However, vivacious and vibrant, the brugmansia is clearly the star of the show here. “Once included as a section of the genus Datura... brugmansia is now recognized as generically distinct and its own separate genus.”8 The datura, or devil’s trumpet/jimson weed grows up from the ground with flowers that bloom upwards towards the sky, whereas the similarly heavily fragrant brugmansia (angel’s trumpet) has large, strikingly dome-like, pendulous flowers that hang down from (the heavens) above. Both are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae. “All parts of angel’s trumpets are considered poisonous and contain the alkaloids atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine. Ingestion of the plants can cause disturbing hallucinations, paralysis, tachycardia, and memory loss and can be fatal. Various species were used both ritualistically and as herbal medicine by indigenous peoples and their shamans, particularly in the northern Andes 9. Once native to central and south America, all species of brugmansia are allegedly now extinct in the wild.

In folklore both datura and brugmansia are reputed to have been a favoured murder weapon for assassins due to the fatal sleep caused by their consumption. It is said that if you slept under a brugmansia, you wouldn’t wake up – the angels having descended from heaven to collect you10. Tales such as this draw attention to long-held associations and chequered histories linking women with botany, especially if we consider connections to do with witchcraft and medicinal healing.

It is these complex tensions and contradictions surrounding these particular plant specimens that I hope to reflect in my works. Against the accumulation of multi-layered biomorphic shapes, that buzz with effervescent colour, I juxtapose areas of seemingly flat, negative space. Dichotomies such as innocence and experience, less and more, then and now, can be illustrated in this way.

I am captivated by these three and many other “toxic” plant species. I hope to record and honour them in a way that is appealing and playful, while simultaneously acknowledging the potential seriousness of what they are.

Written: 22 May, 2024

1. “What does noxious mean?” Dictionary definition from Oxford Languages c/- Google, accessed May 1, 2024.