The Bare Necessities
In 1998, Wandersee and Schlusser introduced the term ‘plant
blindness’. They defined the term as ‘the inability to recognise the importance
of plants and the misguided ranking of plants as inferior to animals’. Plants
can be viewed as the main mediators between the physical and biological worlds
and play a significant role maintaining the climate. Therefore, it can be argued that plant
blindness is a considerable hurdle to be overcome as we can assume that without
sufficient recognition, it is unlikely that policies in plant conservation will
be supported at a time when we need them the most.
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| Book cover illustration - Onions and other vegetable alliums |
While
theoretical assessments of plant blindness exist, there has been little done to
implement and evaluate strategies that directly address or alleviate the
problem. Clearly, awareness of plants is advantageous for both economic and
social reasons and that there hasn’t been a more appropriate time than now to
improve our familiarity with the world’s flora and its uses.
The way
we are living our lives causes the climate to change and critically endangers
many natural habitats. Finding a solution to this has become a massive
cross-cultural challenge. We have already taken substantial steps in addressing
the crisis politically, but it is imperative that the issue does not just sit
within the governmental and scientific arena, but that it becomes part of our
social fabric. I believe that with imaginative, creative thinking we are able
to design and cultivate a globally recognisable visual language. I therefore
want to develop our existing knowledge and use of scientific visual statements
so that we can design better policies and more globally effective forms of
communication.
By
implementing an artistic visual language to extend current scientific
representation in botanical art, I propose that it is possible to realise a
more comprehensive and inclusive approach to environmental awareness.
The
practice of early botanical art was first developed in medicine. Illustrations
had an important role in herbals by transmitting information to individuals so
that plants could be identified without the use of words. Through the means of
observation, illustrations would depict a plant with its key features
throughout an entire life cycle. More recently, botanical illustration has been
used in many different fields of biological study and over time, scientists
have developed strict guidelines for this type of illustrative work, creating a
highly specialised visual language that is still used by botanists today.
Although useful in science practice, I
believe that this narrow view and use of botanical illustration, along with the
ascendant use of photography, moves botanical art away from the aesthetics and
spirit of our enquiry and has possibly contributed to its departure from
mainstream media and the visual arts.
Fortunately,
there are now botanical artists working to reverse this change who are
questioning the traditional usage of botanical illustration. This can be seen
through some significant contemporary changes in style and direction. An
extremely apposite example is the 2011 piece by the artist Rachel Pedder-Smith,
who presented an 18ft long painting using plant material from the herbarium at Royal Botanic Gardens
Kew. It illustrated the new biological classification system based on DNA
sequencing and was a bold, beautiful statement about the advanced level of our
scientific knowledge.
As a
botanical artist, I am constantly exploring divergent approaches to observation
in order to challenge the efficacy of our existing scientific language and to
inspire people to think beyond their own interactions with botany. My intention
for this project is to build a collection that utilises new techniques that have
never before been applied in botanical art, so that I may confront our current
perceptions of botanical art, its applications and how it sits within the
larger scope of scientific communication. Additionally, I propose to analyse the psychological and
cultural reasons behind the science-art divide and how this impacts society
whilst researching how people can engage with more inclusive and harmonious
botanical projects.
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| Production of top ten crops of the world |
The
culmination will be an interactive piece highlighting the global impact of the
consumption of botanically based products. In 2012 I began a personal diary
recording the origin and use of every single plant and its derivative that I
consumed over a twelve month period; from food and cosmetics to textiles and
pharmaceuticals. I recorded the quantity I used and logged the companies and
locations involved in every plant’s distribution. I intend to assemble this
historical data into a detailed and illustrated presentation that chronicles the
manufacturing and distribution journey that commercial products make from their
initial life cycle to the consumer.
In
accordance with traditional botanical illustration methods I propose to paint a
collection that depicts every species accurately and to scale. It is my
intention that the scale of each species will indicate the quantity consumed
and not that of physical size. This project has continually evolved since its
inception and it builds on several years of previous work and research with
plant collections. It will be original in its capacity to highlight and
underline the connections between the mechanical and natural worlds and in its
ability to challenge our current perceptions of botanical art and its use. The project will deliver not only on the
final collection, but also with an exhibition of all supporting research and
the expected publication of papers in the relevant scientific journals.
References
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