“What is a weed? . . . A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Weed or flower?  Nuisance or Joie de Vivre? Wild flora of the meadow or Suburban native?  Dandelions somehow manage to be everyday and magical, horrifying and stunning, romantic and then again nothing at all.  Dandelions as a central part of garden discourse also mark the US suburban developments.  Dandelions have been around for almost thirty million years.  However, after the post-war birth of American suburbia with its ideal of clean and perfectly manicured lawn, the dandelion became a contentious growth.  Indeed to many home-garden enthusiasts, it became a weed.   In this way  dandelions in America, while still associated with medicinal cures, spirits, innocence, and a resilient nature, also bespeak ideas of control, purity, human development, and individual property rights (my yard!).  Project Dandelion is a meditation on the dandelion as a diverse and contentious signifier.  We have tried to approach the dandelion from multiple angles, but we continue to be most fascinated by the dandelion as an “everyday jewel” that some children, counter culture hippies, artists, etc. can relish in, but which a larger America seems unable to tolerate.