Herbarium - Photography & Botany

Herbarium – Photography & Botany focuses on artists who work with the photographic medium, and who each in their own way investigate the biological life of plants and their cultural-historical significance. They are preoccupied with how plants have been collected, registered and archived through time. Many of the artists work closely with scientists in the development of their works, some come from a natural science background and all use the working methodology of botanists as an intrinsic part of their artistic practice.

By drawing on scientific references and photo history, they emphasise the close relationship that has existed between botany and photography from the very beginning. Amateur botanists and scientists who were interested in the photographic processes and in botany were among the first to use the medium, and since its invention photography has hugely influenced our knowledge of and perception of nature.

The involved artists use of scientific methods and references should also be seen in relation to the intense exchange between art and science that permeates the art scene today. As pollution, genetic engineering and climatic change have become imperative social issues, man’s relations with nature have also become a topical theme in contemporary art.