Tangled Connections: Knotweed, Resilience, and Local Ecology

by Leah Craig, Amy Mertl, Nicole Weber, and Romi Kattelson

A site-specific installation along the Watertown Community Path that engages knotweed (Reynoutria japonica) both as material and as a prompt for reflection.

Project Statement:

In North America, knotweed is cast as a botanical villain, a view that obscures deeper realities. Its destructiveness stems less from the plant itself than from colonial histories, racial capitalism, and extractive industries—the very systems driving today’s ecological crises.

This project reframes our relationship to knotweed, moving from narratives of control and eradication toward practices of attention, reciprocity, and care. A trellis of dead knotweed stalks supports native plants, while a seed library stained with knotweed ink offers pollinator seeds. Gatherings with knotweed-based ink, paper, and food invite reflection and embodied encounter within these entangled histories.

Acknowledgments / Project Support

This project is presented as part of the Watertown Public Arts Expert Pairings initiative and made possible through the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

All work pictured here was created in collaboration. Additional design credits are noted.