‘Weed troubles’ in Palestine: Environmental imaginaries of the harmful weed

This article explores creative interventions that challenge colonial environmental imaginaries of Palestine through a discussion of the 2020 Ramallah‐based Weed Control exhibition. The discussion situates environmental imaginaries of the “harmful weed” at the intersection of settler colonialism, visual arts, and the environmental humanities, showing how “weedy” metaphors sustain practices of settler colonial expansion and elimination. Specifically, the article considers the links between the eradication of weeds and the eradication of populations in the Israeli state’s pursuit of territorial control. By centring the work of contemporary visual artists, this paper sheds light on the role of Palestinian art in disrupting settler colonial environmental imaginaries. The article offers an alternative reading to the Zionist environmental imaginaries of healing the land infected by weeds through the analysis of three artworks representing three “harmful seeds”: namely the Carthamus tenuis , the Tordylium peregrinum , and the Melilotus indicus . These creative interventions trace a continuum ranging from affirmative notions of survival as “rebirth” to more introspective engagements that emphasise survival as “defence” and “withdrawal”. The discussion is based on the author’s analysis of the artworks in the exhibition and interviews with some of the participating artists. This is combined with secondary sources, including the exhibition catalogue and archival material.