Under a Palm Tree. Художница Лилит Матевосян

Installation Under a Palm Tree
2024

After the end of the Caucasus War in 1864, the lands of the Northwest Caucasus became deserted. The Circassian, Ubykh, and Abkhaz peoples refused to submit to the rule of the invaders and were exiled from their lands to the Ottoman Empire. The gardens and pastures that were sacred to the inhabitants of these regions grew wild. The first settlers sent by the Tsarist administration struggled to cultivate endemic agricultural crops and brought new plants with them. The introduction of invasive species began with army fortifications, which maintained their own gardens to supply provisions. Exotic gardens were also established around coastal villas and dachas. The first palm tree specimens were brought to Sochi from the Nikitsky Botanical Garden in 1872. These “foreigners” thrived and began to have a destructive impact on the biosphere of the coastline.

Under the Soviet regime, the villas and dachas were transformed into parks, and Sochi became a resort town with numerous sanatoria and health centers for workers. Pictures of lush vegetation on postcards, posters, and advertising brochures upheld the image of a prosperous socialist existence. Palm trees became immensely popular throughout the Soviet Union; holidaymakers would ensure they had their pictures taken with them, and the trees themselves could be found in apartments, libraries, factories, and even in the metro.

The tradition of having photos taken with exotic plants continues to this day. In spring 2024, visitors to the Globus shopping mall in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky were invited to pose for photographs with a picture of a palm tree from the Sochi arboretum in the background. Artist Lilith Matevosyan engaged with those having their photos taken, discussing not only their dreams and hopes related to life in the south but also the changes occurring along the coastline of the Krasnodar region. The construction of tourist and residential clusters often erases (sometimes literally) the boundaries between the old-growth forest and the coastline. The authentic landscape is lost, replaced by typical “resort” scenery. The uncontrolled introduction of decorative plants to the region has also led to the arrival of new species of harmful insects. For instance, in 2014, the Chinese fan palm brought along the Uruguayan palm moth, which is now spreading rapidly along the Black Sea coastline of the Caucasus. This pest not only destroys local plants but also threatens the “foreign” plants with which the coastline is associated.

How will the resort landscape change in the future? What memories of the place will be preserved by the new “decorative” witnesses of history?