Botanical Illustration

Plants and their system of identification created the framework for me to understand my surroundings as having order and being systematic as a child. This helped me to see that everything has a place, a role, a meaning, that allows me to matter. I felt that having a genus and species like the chameenerion augustofolium gave me a sense of purpose and with that, agency.

Scientific illustration has always held a place in my heart, and I look to the simplicity they exude while holding such sophistication. Using white slip as a base layer, I can reference the stark white background on which scientific illustrations are drawn, removing and recontextualizing the plants from their histories and environments. The surface I create has moments of busyness and moments of calm and order, and these two opposites hold the work in tension.

Looking back now at my obsession with scientific drawings and classifications of the natural world, I see how ironically, I took such comfort in a system of order which is constantly in flux. Botany has a taxonomy that changes as generations of plants evolve and mutate so quickly. Though how beautiful is it to have found solace in something whose subtle growth mirrors as one’s self?