Dwaalstêr

Protean Routes’ explores the commodification and trade of the ‘Protea’, South Africa’s national flower, as a lens through which to examine deeper questions around colonial legacies, ecological justice, and cultural identity. Now sold at flower stalls and kept in institutional collections like the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam, the flower’s presence in the Netherlands tells a complex story of extraction, symbolism, and global trade. Contributions from artists and theorists based in both countries interrogate how colonial histories persist in everyday objects, revealing ongoing systems of inequality, and how design can serve as a critical tool for unpacking these entanglements.