Angelique Fraley, Herbalist & Mixed-Media Artist
Southern Garden Traditions: Plants, Medicine & Cultural Survival
Mixed-media artist and massage therapist specializing in the herbalist knowledge embedded in art and history. Growing up in a Southern family where gardens were medicine, community, and resistance, I learned that plants tell stories most people never hear. Tours reveal the botanical wisdom hidden in museum collections—which herbs appear in Renaissance paintings and why, how gardens created Black Southern togetherness when healthcare was denied, what foods and plants shaped cultural practices across centuries.
Tour Approach
Sensory-focused tours connecting museum objects to herbalist traditions, followed by a traditional black Southern tea. We’ll examine paintings for their botanical details, explore natural history specimens through a wellness lens, and discuss how plants functioned as medicine and cultural preservation. Each tour ends with making tea together from herbs connected to what we’ve seen—creating a calm space for reflection, conversation, and personal interpretation. Whether at the National Gallery examining period artwork or the Natural History Museum exploring plant collections, you’ll leave understanding the herbalist perspectives museums rarely explain, plus a tangible connection to the traditions we discussed.
Museums + DMV
- The National Gallery of Art houses centuries of paintings rich with botanical symbolism—from Renaissance herb gardens to still lifes featuring medicinal plants. Perfect for exploring how artists documented the natural world and the plants that shaped daily life across cultures and time periods.
- The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History offers extensive plant collections and cultural exhibits that reveal how different societies used herbs for medicine, food, and ritual. Tours here connect scientific specimens to living herbalist traditions and cultural plant knowledge.
- The National Portrait Gallery provides historical context for understanding how plants, gardens, and food shaped the lives of the people portrayed. From examining what herbs were available during different periods to discussing how gardens functioned in Black Southern communities.