Referencing the South London Botanical Institute’s collections, botanical library & herbarium, GU Womxn have made a collective ‘flimsy’ – a short publication which is framed by a research day at SLBI in July. Taking the form of a flimsy (a temporary holding folder for the specimens, made of archival paper material equivalent to a sheet of newsprint), the work is formed of individual and collective memories, thoughts and responses which link our experience at the SLBI with wider discussions around the complex practice of botany, its historical lineage, social impact and practical applications. Contemplating ideas in relation to knowledge-making & feminist ethics of care, we have considered what we may adopt, question or resist from the herbarium.

Echoing the interwoven & interdependent ecologies discussed within the work, the flimsy will be distributed amongst ALW venues,discreetly installed upon a bespoke structure which references the pressing mechanisms historically used in the herbarium.

Flimsies (small acts of care) will be open at DKUK on Saturday 19 Oct only.