Plants Beyond Binaries and Labels

Afrocentric Botanical Garden Visit

When: 25.01.2026, 1pm-4pm
Where: Botanical Garden Berlin (exact meetup spot will be sent a few days before the workshop)
For: QTI* Black people
Language: English
Entry: 10€ (reduced price 5€) -- If you can't afford this, let us know: info@gladt.de (more info below)

We’re very happy to announce that we’ll be able to offer a guided decolonial visit to the Botanical Garden Berlin again!

This time, we will look at some examples of queer ecology in the plant realm and find out what that means from an afrocentric perspective. Plants do not only challenge binary categories and defy colonial understandings of nature, plants have an own understanding of attraction, reproduction and circularity.

And on the note of botanical gardens themselves: Many of us plantlovers love botanical gardens, while at the same time, there is still this uncomfortable knowing or guessing that they actually evolved during colonial times, for example with plants from Namibia during the German colonial time. They were a symbol of domination over both the natural world and African Indigenous cultures & knowledges. Not only were cultures and people exoticized by the colonizers, plants were brought into isolation and removed from their Indigenous contexts as well.

Reconnecting with plants

During the tour you will have the chance to connect with plants and to learn more about the relationships between plants, ourselves, and the land. Rethinking the ways we engage with botanical knowledge today is part of the reflections. Together, we can envision botanical gardens and knowledges that honor African Indigenous perspectives.

Entry costs & sign-up

Entry for the botanical garden costs 10€ (reduced 5€, you can see if you’re eligible for the reduced price on the botanical garden website). If you can't afford this, please don't hesitate to reach out to us by Wednesday, 21.01. – the price should not be a barrier for you to join the tour. The tour itself is free.

If we’re enough people, we can all get the discounted price, so please sign up by Wednesday 21.01. and arrive on time – we only get the discounted price if we all go in together. If you can’t make it, please cancel your registration so we know how many people will be coming and who to wait for at the meeting spot.

You are of course still welcome to sign up and join after 21.01..

Accessibility information

The garden and greenhouse are accessible for people using a wheelchair. For more information regarding the botanical garden’s accessibility, see their website. Contact us if you have questions.

The temperature in the tropical greenhouse is ca 25°C.

Please take a Covid test on the day of the tour and stay at home if you feel sick.

What to bring

A pen, paper, drinking water.

The tour will be guided by Abeni (ecologist/artist).