Somehow, we know rosemary even if we don’t cook with it on the regular. Some say rosemary is the scent of déjà vu. This aromatic herb has been hailed since ancient times for its powerful medicinal properties, culinary attributes, and energetic relationships to death, memory, and remembrance. Rosemary reminds us of memories from lifetimes past. Perhaps when we share this plant, these memories can be felt deep in our DNA. Perhaps abolition begins in part with remembering what systems of domination have asked us to forget: our kinship with one another, our connection to land, and the superpower of our imagination.

For those of us committed to radical memory work, rosemary asks us to consider what it means to archive beyond institutions that have too often participated in disappearance. These works preserve memories, histories, and relationships that refuse to be forgotten.