Last autumn, twenty avocado plants were displayed at London’s Holborn Library. The stems of the plants were bent into shapes as if they were hugging themselves or crossing their arms if you viewed them in a bad mood. With their disproportionally large leaves and big stones sitting on the necks of wine bottles, they almost looked like Molotov cocktails from afar. This is a plant sculptural piece titled “Entwine” by the married gay couple, Ghost and John.
After the opening day, the couple received an email from another artist accusing “Entwine” of plagiarising their work involving avocados and bottles. Laughing at the plagiarism claim on something anyone with bottles and left-over avocado pit can make, they were shocked at how one can announce “nature” as their invention.
That stronger feeling Ghost and John were having was one of being offended. Their years of caring for these sensitive avocados, gently guiding the stem to twist and curve, were dismissed. Their years after migrating from Hong Kong, settling down, building a new community, getting married and finding their home to house their one hundred pots of plants were dismissed.
Parents came to visit. It was the first time the couple met their parents after getting married.
The awkwardness was in the air. The parents arrived at their flat on the thirteenth floor, with a broad and generous view of the London cityscape. Bathed in sunlight, the thriving houseplants lined the floor-to-ceiling windowsills and occupied all the shelf tops – an indoor forest indeed.
Among the many plants is the rubber fig tree, commonly seen in Hong Kong standing at five-story tall; snake plants, commonly used in Hong Kong to line the edge of a motorway; as well as those that grew from the cuttings at plant swaps with their friends, like the Chinese coin plants, mojito syngoniums, calatheas and monsteras. The room is filled with love and sweet memories of home.
Upon examination, a parent decided that the plants were bad for their gay married son. He started a long speech about how the plants were taking away the already inadequate sunlight in London, depleting the boys of the yang energy and, of course, blocking the paths for the money to arrive.
Again, Ghost and John were offended. They could not comprehend how these plants that had been earnest companions of their lives were bad for them. They cannot believe how these plants they have poured their hearts upon were in the way of their success. It took the boys so much discipline to not start a fight.
This summer marks this pair’s seventh year of living in London. Having previously trained and worked in computer science and marine biology, they are now a multidisciplinary art duo who make performances, videos, and installations about their queer migrant lived experiences.
Currently preparing for the premiere of their semi-autobiographical show “Two Plant Gaysians”, Ghost and John were letting their collaborator, sound artist Angela Wai Nok Hui, grind up dead leaves of their houseplants with the wheels of their bikes.
Angela also picked up the dead avocado sculptures and poked the twig-like root through the spinning bike wheel, making sounds like butterfly wings or wind chimes.
There was this weird sense of satisfaction as they stared at their living room floor, now filled with chopped-up stems and broken leaves. They said “Everything happens for a reason, and we just need to ride it out”.
To paraphrase their photographer, Jane Lam said, “If you look at everything with love, you see beauty everywhere”.
Ghost and John, who are in rehearsals now, said they would like to see this piece tour soon. This experimental theatre production involves spoken text, projection, dance, and many beautiful scenes.
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Use promocode PLANTFRIENDS for a £10 ticket for matinee and night of 12th October 2024.
by Wind Moves Mountain
Photo credit Jane Lam and Deacon Lui
Two Plant Gaysians premieres at The Pleasance, 12 October 2024, 4pm & 7:30 pm (Both shows are creatively captioned) Post Show Q&A 12 October 2024 9.00pm (BSL), 5 Carpenters Mews, North Road, London N7 9EF, United Kingdom.
