Untangling a Garden

Untangling a Garden combines the imaginations of two parks: the Rafut Park – one of the first exotic parks near Nova Gorica in Slovenia – and the garden of the so-called 'Alexandrine women' in Alexandria. At the end of the 19th century, thousands of Slovenian women migrated to Egypt to work in the professions of care and nursing, bringing with them radicchio plants from home.

In her research project, Neja Tomšič looks at the historical, cultural, mythological and symbolic aspects of the Rafut Park and its territory, tracing in it the threads of rich cultural exchanges between Egypt and Slovenia.

The performancejuxtaposes fragments of this history, creating a new, imaginary garden in which trees and plants become co-narrators. Visitors are invited to take part in the imagining of the garden and to engage with the story as it is told.

Neja Tomšič is research-based visual artist, storyteller, performer and ritual maker, working with drawing, objects and sound. Her practice reflects on dominant historical narratives, researches into particularities, and creates situations in which new understandings of the present can be formed.