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Alaa Abu Asad
The Dog Chased Its Tail To Bite It Off, 2022
Fragmented photoessay
The Dog Chased Its Tail To Bite It Off (2022) is a fragmented photo essay that not only delves into the complexities of the Japanese knotweed as an invasive plant species, but also reflects on the larger historical and political context of its introduction to Europe. Philipp Franz von Siebold, a German physician who sailed to Japan under the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1823, introduced the plant to Europe. Today, it is seen as a "non-native invasive species" and treated as a scourge. Alaa Abu Asad's work meditatively traces the violent and xenophobic speech used to describe the plant and its parallels in the language used to describe human migrants. The artist questions the arbitrary and political nature of determining which plant species belong and which are considered invaders. The work explores the underlying causes of the plant's flourishing, from pollution to climate change, and the plant's resilience continues to insist on its presence.
Alaa Abu Asad (b.1989) is an artist, researcher and photographer. He develops alternative trajectories in which (re)presentation, translation, looking, reading and understanding can intersect. His work takes form in writing, image-making, and interactive installations, in which he visualizes his research and methodology of exploring the boundaries of languages.
