Botanica 17

I have maintained a photographic practice for over 30 years and currently work from my Brixham-based Studio in Devon. Over the years, my work has become significantly more introspective and personally motivated, and this current collection of botanical portraits is my response to the increasingly chaotic, existential disorientation of life in the 21st century.

Inspired by typologies and photographers who take a methodical and systematic approach to documenting a particular subject, my repetitive process of collecting, pressing and then photographing each of the botanical subjects provided me with a rhythm of order and optimism. The Botanica Project began when England was under the first national lockdown between late March and June 2020. Ordered to stay at home during this period of great uncertainty, many found solace in the few ‘essential’ activities permitted outside of the house. I became intimately familiar with the route of my daily walk and increasingly reassured by the constancy and certainty of the natural environment. I was also struck by the way I could see something new and beautiful each day despite the anxieties being played out in the wider social sphere.

Photography

40x52cm