Conophytum pageae, an endangered succulent whose flowers emerge from what looks like a a pair of human lips, grows in the richly flowering Namaqualand region of southern Africa. In this VR experience, you set out on an eventful journey from the perspective of this plant.
You begin, as the plant, in your natural habitat, as the days, nights, and seasons pass before your eyes. These are images of home and belonging. Then you are spotted by a local plant poacher, who watches you for an uncomfortably long time before cutting into you with his butter knife. This marks the start of an odyssey through the human world, clearing customs and a growing in a plant nursery in Thailand, only to end up on the windowsill of an upscale apartment in a rainy New York. The conversations between the people who enter your field of vision along the way are unintelligible, yet can somehow still be understood.
As well as an eventful journey full of dramatic encounters and events, Uprooted is a commentary on systemic inequality in a world driven by greed, where nature is being stripped of its treasures.
Stills
