Our name was inspired by the Feral Atlas, a collection of field reports documenting contact between invasive species and human infrastructure.

In 2022 we began collecting local histories of ecologies becoming feral, experimenting with harvesting techniques, and documenting our work scientifically and artistically. The Notion platform allows us to present a multimedia archive of these engagements. It also allows us to invite collaborators, and we envision a network of data collectors.

We see grassroots experiments with feral ecologies as critical resistance against environmental, economic, and housing injustice. Large-scale governmental protocols, often requiring EPA exemptions to execute, are imposed on communities without their involvement or consent. We aim to foster a collaborative digital setting for innovations to emerge. We value direct engagement in the monitoring and care of our own ecosystems.

We are also asking: what do conventional views/policy on invasive species illuminate about the (in)capacity for whiteness to assess belonging, threat, purpose, and the role of humans within ecologies?

Conventional language around invasive/alien species evokes xenophobic images of threatening outsiders: aggressive and sexually prolific, with intentions to “sneak” across borders.

We do not consider this coincidental or without consequence. By working to de-settle and propose alternatives to invasion biology, we also seek to disrupt the tenants of whiteness and settler colonialism that proliferate through the stories we tell about the land and our work here. We are human beings seeking rooted connection. To quote Simone Weil’s essay on Atlas of Places, “to be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.”

Below are some snapshots inside a boxwood grove, one of the feral ecologies in this archive.

White strands of mycelium slowly digest the fabric, while using it to explore

A decomposing mattress, estimated 20-30 years old

Moss thriving on mattress padding