As far as multimedia artist Pamela Martinez once knew, the wonders of the estafiate plant were arcane knowledge untouched by the internet.
Her West Side grandmother Sara Garcia routinely used the backyard herb to soothe an ailing stomach, but that folk wisdom might have passed away with Garcia’s death four years ago.
Martinez grew curious about the plant she was now responsible for tending, but a Google search to learn the properties of estafiate proved fruitless.
“I had to do a lot of studying to find that answer,” Martinez said. After years of offline research and herbalism studies, she is ready to present her discoveries this Saturday at Chris Park with a free interactive performance event titled Estafiate: Music for Plants.
The two-hour 6 p.m. performance will begin with an interactive prelude to introduce the multiple properties of the plant, including a pulse test for anyone in attendance to determine whether they might be allergic.
Martinez has engaged two dozen other artists and creative workers to help produce the event, which will then proceed to a two-act “immersive music theater” performance including an ensemble of musicians and the SumRset Movement dance troupe of Tanesha Payne.
‘You can play the plant’
Estafiate is a less commonly-known name for Artemisia ludoviciana, more commonly known as white sagebrush and several other names. However it is not related to the common herb sage, instead a mugwort related to wormwood, from which the intoxicant absinthe is derived (though estafiate does not have psychoactive properties).
Martinez learned that not only can estafiate help soothe an ailing gut as a tisane for adults or roasted and sprinkled on the tongue of a colic infant, it is also traditionally used for dreamwork ceremonies and other forms of shamanistic healing.
In Martinez’s hands, the plant will become a vehicle for creative expression. Attendees who choose to participate in the prelude section of the Saturday evening performance will have a chance to create music simply by touching plants, thanks to the electronics of collaborator Miles Friday, who teaches music at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Friday has wired 10 estiafiate plants with electronics that generate an audible note for each plant, with participants closing the electronic loop simply by touch.
“So you can come and you can play the plant,” Martinez said.
‘Significant contact’
Martinez described the Estafiate performance as an homage to Garcia and this once-strange plant, and to the roots of heritage and cultural knowledge lost and found.
Martinez frequently performs and creates “sound bath” meditations as Teletextile. The Estafiate subtitle Music for Plants refers to her desire to give back to the plant.
“We keep asking from the plant,” she said. “What are you giving back to the plant? What are you giving back to the environment? What are you giving back to the experience? … Energy and resources are circular, that’s a big theme in this.”
She said she considers the Estafiate performance to be similar to tending her garden at home, a way of honoring generational knowledge and life cycles, but hopes attendees will form their own relationships to the herb that has been a significant part of her life.
“I want you to have your own experience with the plant, and for it to feel that you made significant contact with it,” Martinez said.
Estafiate: Music for Plants will take place at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Chris Park across from Ruby City, free with advance registration.
