Courtney Cochran’s Give the Gays Their Flowers is a zine created to capture the power of plant medicine with a focus on trans, queer and non-binary people. With a focus on flower essences, the publication highlights ways people can create them and utilize them for self and community.
Transcript
Opening: This is Minnesota’s Legacy: A look at the organizations and people who have benefitted from Minnesota’s unique Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.
COURTNEY MAE COCHRAN: How do you merge the worlds of art and herbalism and use visual arts and poetry to actually communicate specifically queer and trans herbalism traditions?
BRITT AAMODT: Courtney Mae Cochran is a queer, gender-nonconforming multidisciplinary artist from the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota. They wanted to combine their knowledge of herbalism with their creative talents in a project that would speak to queer and trans wellness. But what would that look like?
What about a zine—one of those self-published, usually photocopied magazines?
COCHRAN: This really cheap and affordable way to get knowledge out in the community without relying on traditional public publishing sources.
AAMODT: They were able to distill years of herbal study into 50 pages of art and text about queer spirits, essences for gender-affirming care and grief—
COCHRAN: Information about energetic herbalism. How to make flower essences. Step by step, here are the directions to make these medicines for you and your community.
AAMODT: And in 2024, with a grant from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, Courtney Cochran published her zine – Give the Gays Their Flowers: Flower Essences for Queer & Trans Wellness & Liberation.
Closing: Minnesota’s Legacy is a production of AMPERS, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, more at ampers dot org.