See the plant .. to Know your Land
Botanical Storytelling Project
About
Botanical Storytelling is an interdisciplinary art and research initiative exploring the relationships between plants, people, places, and memory. It brings together botanical research, cultural history, visual art, and personal experience to uncover the stories carried by plants across generations.
The project begins with close observation: looking beyond plants as background, decoration, or resources for human use, and approaching them instead as living beings with their own histories, environments, and ways of surviving. Through archival research, botanical documentation, workshops, illustrations and storytelling, the project traces how plants have been seen, used, named, represented, and remembered.
A particular focus is placed on the botanical and cultural heritage of Syria and the wider eastern Mediterranean, where plant knowledge is deeply connected to everyday life, agriculture, traditional practices, and collective memory. Much of this knowledge remains scattered, overlooked, or absent from official archives.
Botanical Storytelling seeks to bring these fragmented narratives together while creating space for new ones. Its aim is not only to document plants, but also to help people observe more deeply, share their own plant knowledge, and reconsider their relationship with the natural world. At its heart is a simple shift in perspective: first the plant, then the relationship between plant and human, and only then the human.
Meet the Founder
Donea Almir is a Syrian designer and independent researcher trained in architecture. Her interest in plants and landscapes grew from her architectural studies and a graduation project centered on agriculture in her hometown. After moving to the Netherlands, she developed an independent practice combining research, visual thinking, and artistic experimentation. Her work is shaped by her experience between Syria and the Netherlands, and by a desire to document places, knowledge, and cultural memories that are often fragmented, overlooked, or at risk of disappearing.
Donea Almir invites anyone interested in plants and their place within the natural landscape to join the Botanical Storytelling community. Volunteers can contribute to the blog, share research, stories, and creative ideas, and help develop new ways of protecting our remaining natural heritage while strengthening people’s connection to the environments in which they live.