Bottle from ‘Contained Flora’ series

This project began with the subject of formal and botanic gardens; and an interest in the structuring and ordering of nature and collecting and classifying the organic. As lockdown restrictions came into place early on in the project, the photographs/sketches/notes gathered in early 2020 in the Royal Botanic Gardens took on more significance as a snapshot of those moments, pinning down specific visits and seasons. I also began to draw my own house plants during prolonged stays at home, focusing on this almost miniature world away from the outside. The repetition of drawing became important, as a way to move the project forward and as a way to distract from the bigger issues. Ironically the original interest was in how we try to contain and control the organic, and yet we became the ones contained whilst the gardens continued to grow.