Fabulae Florae Herbarium
Date:
2010 - 2022
Ref:
5581
Materials:
Diverse textile, mixed media on canvas
Dimensions:
70 x 70 x 4 cm each
Exhibition history:
2025 British Textile Biennial, East Lancashire, UK; 2022 La Patinoire Royale Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, Belgium
Courtesy:
Lucy + Jorge Orta
Since participating in a scientific expedition to observe the effects of climate change on the Amazon rainforest in 2009, Lucy and Jorge Orta have built an extensive photographic archive of plant species from around the world. Lucy reproduces the photographs in textiles, larger-than-life, to serve as a reminder of our planet’s infinite diversity and fragility and to alert to the record disappearance of plant biodiversity.
‘Fabulae Florae Herbarium’ is a collection of flowers specimens using diverse fabrics and embellishment techniques, each one stitched onto brightly coloured canvas, replicating the practice of plant conservation observed in botany laboratories. Naturalist and pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson reminds us that by contemplating the beauty of the earth we will find reserves of strength that will endure lifelong (Carson, 1962). The giant textile herbarium seeks to make the imperceptible details more visible; through careful observation, we may draw positive energy from the beauty of these plants.