Perhaps this was possible because botanical drawing held an association to the female hobbies of handiwork, craft and gardening. In gendered activities such as floral needlework, women could combine their interests in science and art in a somewhat subversive way. Ultimately in the larger sphere of art, botanical painting did not hold the same significance as the history and religious painting being done by men and so it did not pose an overwhelming threat.
Nevertheless, I've had the pleasure of looking through a lens at some stunning flowers!
Most often women encountered nature in much the same ways that men did. Walking through gardens and along roadsides, they collected specimens which they viewed with lenses. They were allowed to attend public lectures, read texts and engage in fieldwork.
Like the thousands of mushroom photos I’ve taken, I have at least an equal number of plant photographs. These photos are not meant to be plant portraits. Instead, they go into my photo library which I cull through again and again when looking for the right image to use in a larger, constructed artwork. The original photographs go unseen.
In upcoming blog entries I’m going to pair my photographs of flowers with botanical illustrations created by women who were both amateur botanists and early natural history painters (whom you’ve probably never heard of).
Because I use flower photographs in my larger compositions, I rarely feature them as stand-alone images. This gives me the opportunity to share them alongside the work of other women whom I admire and have been influenced by.
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| Iris Susiana, Maria Sibylla Merian, ca 1700 |
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