Grace Scully
My work concerns contemporary social topics such as climate change, environmental issues, and exploring the intersection and intricacies between people and the natural environment. My photographic methods are research-based, both in historical and contemporary research of written documents, and visual art forms such as paintings, moving image, and other photographic works. This research is then carried through to the development of the photographs and conveyed through a combination of image and text.
Natura Imperium
This project looks at the history of botanical exploration and the impact it still has today. My research involved investigating the introduction of invasive plant species by wealthy landowners in the 18th and 19th century. The collecting of plant specimens by colonial powers often took place with the intention of expanding scientific understanding of the world, exploring the medicinal uses of plants as well as the simple appreciation of nature. These explorations coincided with the expansionist ambitions of imperialists, causing indigenous people to be exploited, resources pillaged, and communities destroyed. Thus, the collecting of botanical specimens can also be understood as a means of control: an understanding of the natural world was linked with the intention of controlling those environments. The history of botanical exploration thus cannot be separated from the history of colonial exploitation. Some of the historical effects of this has resulted in people becoming alienated from the natural environment around them, setting in train the conditions for climate change and ecological disasters.
The materiality of the book is an important part of this project's realisation, from the involvement of the viewer opening the fold-out pages, to the exposed thread binding, and the material cover. Taking inspiration from the research of botanists in the 18th and 19th centuries, the photobook takes elements of their notebooks, such as the handwritten plant names, images of pressed flowers, and tactile nature of the book itself.
Photobook