Residency at BROTA, Buenos Aires in October 2019. The residency project was site specific to the Carlos Thays Botanical Gardens. The gardens were designed and built by Thays in 1898. Taking inspiration from Thays’ vision of a garden as multi-sensory experience, I focused on the human senses as a starting point to investigate our changing relationship to nature and to explore ways of renewing our connection to the environment.
My methods used materials found in the Botanical Gardens, such as earth for pigment or water and sunlight for cyanotype prints - an early photographic process invented at the time of gardens’ public opening. I also used pencil for the drawings and the gardens’ plants for leaf prints on paper.
My research concerned the idea of the garden as public space in history. After a maturation process that surpassed Thays' lifetime, there was a particular interest in what it means to experience the garden today.
The residency at BROTA enabled me to develop ideas for further iteration and was very informative and inspiring for my practice. It enabled me to develop a body of work and an exhibition entitled ‘Do you hear the flowers sing?’
Comments