A Vita Plantae explores the relationship between art and science by re-imagining classic 19th-century botanical drawings in a three-part series of organic images: Roots, Potato Love, and Time Preserved. Inspired by my educational background in the natural sciences and a successful career as a professional photographer, the collection reveals the long-hidden truths of plants. Their movement and grace, the nature of time, and, ultimately, the almost unbearable fragility of life are among the themes captured in stark and intimate detail.
I began my process by carefully selecting visually interesting plants at regional flower and farmer’s markets. I then worked with these organic materials in my studio in a variety of ways.
For the Roots series, I arranged plant life into living collages for the camera, often juxtaposing them with an assortment of symbols of scientific imperialism. All as a means of exploring the ideas that shape our understanding of the natural world. For the other series—Potato Love and Time Preserved—I stored my specimens and waited patiently, observing them as they changed over time. I find these natural objects always evolve—growing and decaying, sometimes even into improbable abstract forms. In these instances, I waited until their shape seemed ripe for the camera and, then documented them individually. I composed each specimen in a way that allows it to take on its own, human-like persona. In each series, my assemblages and portraits connect the viewer to the ecological cycles of the natural world, including reflecting on their own aging and mortality.