This week’s guest is multi-media artist Hanna Varga. Hanna incorporates the natural world into her work and her current projects involve foraging for fibres she turns into both useful and beautiful items. The conversation began with Hanna talking about her work past and present and developed into a really important conversation about the value of items at their more than fiscal level. Dr Ian Bedford’s Bug of the Week: Cabbage Whiteflies About Hanna’s ‘Say It With Knots’ Project “Taking as a point of departure an idea that prompted me to embark on a journey dedicated to explore knotted ropes and their agency to convey meaning. What utterly captivated my imagination I first encountered in an essay by Italo Calvino titled Say it with Knots (originally published in 1984). In it he describes an exhibition about knot making and his impressions of the artefacts there as a medium for communication. 40 years later, in 2024, I envision a small travelling solo exhibition to reanimate this ancient tactile craft in order to tell stories of a particular geographical location.  I endeavour to create an engaging and urgent body of work in response to our current ecological times. I aim to awaken curiosity and evoke questions about interconnectedness. I'm planning to make a new series of sculptural forms using wild foraged plant fibres. I choose to source my own art materials from the local environment to minimise my carbon footprint. The process of both gathering and making cordage is beautiful, versatile and yields evocative results. The metaphors in language can offer insight into the diverse range of symbols, historical and cultural associations with strings and knots; the important role rope making technologies played in the development of civilisations.  I wish to juxtapose this with the natural history of the landscape where the raw materials come from. I will work on the coast of the Scottish Highlands where a long history of shipping and fishing trades have been present. Natural and human history will intertwine in the resulting artworks.”  I wish to transport my audience in time - back to the beginning, where it all started by twisting together vegetal fibres into a piece of string. Also, looking ahead into the future, an invitation to imagine new possibilities in tactile dimensions in our increasingly digitised age.  How will we continue making meaning with our hands? How can we create in reciprocity with the more-than-human world around us? Links Hanna on Instagram Ash Leaf London Other episodes if you liked this one: Botanical Storytelling with Amanda Edmiston Amanda’s new book - The Time Traveller’s Herbal  Making & Using Natural Dyes Patreon