File:Garage School of Medicine 2024.pdf

"The escuela de garaje (garage school) was born in Bogotá in 2013, it is an informal study program that has no consistent or permanent infrastructure and exists on very little. Our schools emerge like fruiting bodies in relation to a particular place, subject or host(s). We are interested in knowledge and tools that are considered irrelevant, of low quality or without official validity. This iteration of the escuela (The Garage School of Medicine) is convened by artists and educators Kari Robertson and Santiago Pinyol.

‘The Garage School of Medicine’ emerges from a proposition of nonalignment with hierarchical and imperialist medicine and medical discourse. We strive to research, remember and imagine other conceptions of health and healing that are holistic, metaphorical, metaphysical, preventative, collective and hopeful.

We came across various inspiring radical herbalist practices during our research for the Garage School of Medicine, including the work of Claudia Manchanda, Herbalists Without Borders, Nicole Rose's 'Solidarity Apothecary' and Herbalista's homeless foot care clinic. What each of these practices have in common is a desire to democratise access to herbal knowledge and medicine. Each acts from a position of solidarity and deep connection with those who are denied access to adequate care through state marginalisation, violence or neglect. These practices recognise that the continued existence of some bodies is a political act and herbs can offer tools to strengthen and reinforce our commitment to systemic change.

For our interpretation of the Community Apothecary we simply made a small adaptation; that each person can bring to the recipe an ingredient from their own context, this was in an effort to further decentralise the flow of information and allow 'garage knowledge' to flow in all directions. We found that speaking through medicines and remedies we use or value in our lives can be a proxy to speak about how and what our bodies experience and our, often shared, vulnerabilties."