Overview
The commission featured a huge relief panel, a replica of one from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal (668-631 BCE) in Nineveh. The panel depicts the Assyrian gardens, which preceded the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The original panel now sits in the British Museum. Rakowitz used his signature collage technique on the panel, using food packaging from West Asian, South Asian and African grocery stores.
Plants selected seasonally by local migrant communities were presented at different stages of their growing process. Rakowitz's garden amongst ruins acted as a metaphor for the overlapping histories of imperialism, war, displacement, trauma and adaptation that people, cultural objects and plants carry with them.
The artist's interdisciplinary practice of excavation, cooking, sculpting, and activism interwove in this installation. It highlighted the ways in which heritage can be both a source of identity and a site of conflict, particularly when cultural signifiers are looted, destroyed and erased.
Image Gallery
Communities and Places
This artwork was developed in collaboration with community gardens and organisations that support people seeking sanctuary in the North East of England: the Comfrey Project, the West End Refugee Service (WERS), Scotswood Garden and Dilston Physic Garden.
The exhibition space became a community exchange, hosting spaces for rest and sensory experiences such as distillation, tea drying and smells from spices and herbs, and an area for community meals and activities.
A diverse programme of events accompanied the exhibition. It included conversations, local walks, workshops, musical interventions and sessions for Baltic's Young Producers. Baltic's Schools Programme developed toolkits for primary and secondary schools inspired by the project. An after-school club supported newly arrived children to connect with their local peers through gardening and art.
Once the exhibition finished, plants were donated to community groups throughout Newcastle and Gateshead through a network of community and school gardens.
Watch Film
Artist Michael Rakowitz discusses his work on The Waiting Gardens of the North.
Find Out More
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Baltic Gardening Volunteer Gina Barron discusses The Waiting Gardens of the North