Plants are present in our every day lives. Some, like those defined within a garden, engage our consciousness. But many we are not aware of. They are simply there; forming and changing backgrounds and textures in the world around us.
Through the process of collecting these incidental plants photographing, printing and installing them, I have been exploring the notion of view point; our attitudes towards certain plant groups and how our perceptions of them change in space and over time. Questioning how we consider these plants (as a resource, as irksome, as beautiful) and how those perceptions are formed and changed. This has led me to create new images of plants that, though barely present, are plentiful and vigorous within their own environment.
Elle Anderson
July 2014
NOTE:
For these works, plants were gathered from the roadside, just outside my house. This is the main road into Hunua and was established in mid 1800s.
Along this piece of road there was the blacksmith, a general store and post-office, distributing goods from the city into the country. Now the water pipe for Auckland runs alongside this road, distributing the country's bounty back to the city.
But the plants are constant. Some of these plants gathered will have arrived at the time of construction of this Plates that are part of this work are:
1 Cirsium spookii
2 Cirsium bansheeii
3 Cyperus dashii
4 Daucus soulii
5 Jacobeae faintii
6 Leucanthemum ghostii
7 Ligustrum glimmerii
8 Phytolacca hintii
9 Plantago impressionii
10 Raphanus presenceii
11 Rubus phantomii
12 Solanum spiritii
13 Sonchus whisperii
14 Ulex traceii
15 Verbena genieii
(note the plates are not displayed in the order listed above)