CHAT’s flagship community programme Seed to Textile has been acquainting artists and the public to make dialogue between nature, textiles and art since 2019, offering hands-on experiences ranging from farming to gallery practice. This year, Hong Kong artist Sara Tse is invited to explore how nature and textiles weave into people’s memories and, during the process, deconstruct and reconstruct communal experiences by collecting oral histories and creating collaborative artworks with the public.

Grounded in over a decade of research on her almat mater – Kwai Chung Public School, she has been collecting and documenting the botanical and cultural imprints of the school and its surrounding Tsuen Wan neighbourhood. Using her collections of the now-demolished school as the backbone, Tse led Seeders – comprising multi-generational alumni and individuals from the public – to revive the botanical heritage of the school by cultivating selected plants that are common Hong Kong species. These plants are powerful testaments to personal and collective memories, embodying distinct meanings and identities. They were transformed into natural dyes and fibres, which form the basis of a series of co-creative workshops spanning ceramic making, textile dyeing, cyanotype photography and branch weaving, exploring the entwined migratory experiences of flora and humanity, the construction of belonging, and the often overlooked and vanishing narratives around us.

Participating school:
Pat Heung Central Primary School

Acknowledgements:
Creative and Professional Writing Programme, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Sustainable Ecological Ethical Development Foundation