Nicknamed 'The Weedy One', this Sydney-based Italian artist, naturalist and award-winning cultural worker has turned his lifestyle into a career, running tours, workshops and initiatives based around ecology and our relationship with our natural surroundings.
Diego works with a range of professionals, from chefs to herbalists, to maximise the use of the wild vegetation which grows abundantly across Australian soil.
And who knew we had so many valuable products practically going to waste?!
Some of Diego’s favourite Australian weeds include dandelions, wild fennel, exotic mushroom varieties and the elusive wild asparagus, along with mulberries, which are just coming into season now.
“I love unusual plants that people don’t necessarily like that much...I really respect them and I harvest and eat them a lot,” Diego said.
Where did this warm artist’s love of weeds stem from?
If we journeyed back in time and across the world, we’d find a young Diego frolicking around the Italian countryside in search of wild wonders to use for food and medicinal purposes, an economic and fairly widespread practice for the particular place and time in question.
“I grew up on a farm in northern Italy collecting wild produce and plants all around me because that’s just what we used to do,” Diego said.
Years later, Diego completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts and began to channel his knowledge of wild plants to identify with his new surroundings.
“I’m a migrant myself, so I used that as a starting point to reflect on cultural belonging and environmental identity, and the way that we can find and relate to a new place using the plants that we know,” Diego said.
As a freshly settled Diego explored abandoned gardens to familiarise himself with his new home in Australia, he sparked an interest within the wider community surrounding his peculiar foraging habits and his vast knowledge of nature.
As this curiosity flourished, Diego began sharing his passion for weeds and the wilderness through workshops and tours, creating a niche business out of what was once just a way of life for the charismatic Italian.
Diego seems to have landed in Sydney at just the right time, as local natural products have become the latest trend among foodies, hipsters and green thumbs alike, and this high demand has turned his budding business into a great success.
“It’s been a long journey and it didn’t happen overnight,” Diego laughed.
“Humans are just becoming more aware of the need to engage with the environment in different ways and to start connecting with what’s around us.”
Diego hopes to draw on the rising attention that he has received to trigger a widespread understanding and “new appreciation” of our ever-changing environment and the “fragile ecosystem” which we call home.
“I involve myself in lots of different initiatives, usually based on my concerns and on trying to construct new narratives between how humans create the living environment around themselves today,” Diego said.
A key member of artists’ printing collective, BigFAGPress, Diego also led a major event in Liverpool earlier this year called ‘Food Fight’, which was dedicated to the surprisingly prevalent issue of food security here in Australia.
“We tend to think of Australia as being a lucky country but there are quite a lot of issues and a growing population of people who don’t have the time or money to provide themselves with appropriate food,” Diego explained.
The busy forager then teamed up with fellow artists, Tega Brain and Mark Gerada to unveil a permanent public artwork in the outskirts of Brisbane, called ‘Beasts of Alderley’, which again explored the intricate relationship between humans and our environment.
Alongside other weed enthusiasts and nature lovers, Diego is also in the process of compiling a global mapping system for wild food sources, which is available to anybody with access to the internet or a smartphone.
Just when you thought Diego couldn’t do any more, he will also be participating in ‘Futurelands2’ in New South Wales this November, where a cohort of avid land lovers will come together for a two-day conference based around people, art and ecology.
While Diego’s foraging journey started off as an opportunistic and convenient practice on the farm, his deep appreciation of all that the wilderness has to offer is something that neither time nor space can diminish.
“Ecology is not a supermarket shelf so you don’t go out and expect to collect whatever... most of the time you just go out, check out what’s happening, and you might come back with a full basket,” Diego said.
“It makes you grateful for what nature has provided you with; it creates some sort of respect for the processes of nature.”
As the demand for 'The Weedy One' continues to grow, and Diego’s schedule becomes busier by the day, it seems that we may be more willing to take a leaf out of this passionate naturalist’s book now more than ever, which can only mean good things for our environment.
Follow the link to access or contribute to the ‘Wild Food Map’, and visit Diego's website to find out more about his work.
