Towards the end of March, I was lucky enough to have a tutorial with a visiting Royal Academy MA Student, Anna. As the most recent body of work that Anna is producing is based around the climate crisis, I felt that having a tutorial with Anna would be most beneficial for me; she would be able to provide me with particularly relevant and targeted feedback and artist references.
During the tutorial, the feedback and thoughts they gave me gave me plenty to reflect on, especially the question:
“what is the artistic role of my drawings? What do they do, that botanical illustration doesn’t do?”
I have to admit that initially, I found this question difficult to grapple with, as my project has always been very clear in my head and had a very clear goal. However, when posed to me this way, I was forced to reassess the role of my project. Was it just repeating things that were already out there?
The answer I have come up with is this: by creating the Endangered Plant Index, I am collating information into one, accessible place, that can be accessed by a large number of people, without the requirement for them to have to be botanists or highly interested in botany to discover it. By creating the illustrations, I am collating the plants on the list in one style, which makes the information that I am collating and sharing even more accessible, as, due to the nature of herbarium specimens, they aren’t always the easiest to engage with. My aim through drawing these plants, is to engage the audience and create public interest, which I hope will go on to spark public engagement and interest in the plight of plants in the climate crisis.
In addition to this, Anna also gave me several references – some of which I had heard of, others which I hadn’t:
- Albrecht Dürer
- Timothy Morton
- Donna Harroway
- Nathaniel Dorsky
- Derek Jarman
Over the next few weeks, I will continue to explore these artists and their works, and the ways in which they relate to my practice and project – especially (in light of planning the Degree Show) in terms of the ways they hang and display their works.
