Pleasures and Terrors of Pollination, 2024
10ft x 12 ft Installation of cyanotypes on watercolor paper, zines on plinth
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx Calling: The Sixth AIM Biennial
Detail of Pleasures and Terrors of Pollination, 2024
In response to stressful conditions like extreme heat or drought, a plant will switch into survival mode, going to seed, often before a gardener has a chance to harvest. Focusing all of its energy on the continuation of its species, my buttercrunch lettuce went from producing delicious, edible leaves to extending a spire of flowers. I became obsessed with observing bolting plants in my garden. Collecting specimens of arugula, cilantro, and buttercrunch lettuce, I set out to document their forms. With the same sunshine and water that nurtures the plants, I exposed and washed this series of cyanotypes.
I am interested in the tension between the aesthetic pleasure of the flower and the plant’s expression of self preservation in the face of imminent death. The title comes from Aaron Siskind’s series Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation, where he documented divers suspended mid air, devoid of context, such that it is unclear whether they are floating or falling– or where they might land. The bolting buttercrunch lettuce feels akin to our current human condition; confronting the uncertainty of our fragile ecosystem. The last effort to survive can be beautiful and terrifying.
Details of Pleasures and Terrors of Pollination, 2024
(images: Argenis Apolinario and the artist)
This project was supported by a residency at NARS Foundation in Brooklyn and the AIM program at The Bronx Museum of the Arts.