Siân Bowen - After Hortus Malabaricus: Sensing and Presencing Rare Plants

11 January to March 22, 2020

Plants have been a ‘currency’ of empires, their collection and distribution having had huge social, cultural and political implications. Marking RBGE’s 350th anniversary, After Hortus Malabaricus: Sensing and Presencing Rare Plants references the Garden’s rich historical Herbarium and archival collections, reflecting issues critical to our times.

Hortus Malabaricus took nearly thirty years to compile. One of the earliest and most comprehensive accounts of Asian flora, it remained largely inaccessible until 2003, when it was finally published in English. Indian taxonomist K.S. Manilal spent over three decades completing this ground-breaking translation from Latin – together with his accompanying commentary on the current status of each plant in the region formerly known as Malabar.

Supported by experts in the UK and India, Bowen sought to find the rarest plants described in Hortus Malabaricus – both as preserved historical specimens in the Herbarium and living plants in protected areas of Northern Kerala. The resulting drawings, videos, sound pieces, artist books, models and casts form a range of ‘collections’. These are titled to reflect sensory ways in which a group of objects that have been temporarily gathered together, might be encountered, considered and understood. They seek to prompt consideration of the fragile nature of plant life, the significance of a herbarium and the urgent need to protect our natural world – and make present the imperceptible nature of the vulnerabilities and resiliencies of rare plants.

In the first room of the gallery, tables have been covered in layers of objects and fragments resulting from experimentation over the course of the four-year project. These reflect the wider concept of the exhibition which blurs boundaries between an artwork and its means of production – reflecting differing notions of the herbarium specimen as both scientific tool and object of aesthetic value and cultural significance. Preliminary models, casts, moulds and final works are given equal importance, prompting questions concerning concepts of experimentation and consolidation.

Intricate models in foil, paper and latex were made of eighteen RBGE historical Herbarium specimens – examples of plants in Hortus Malabaricus which are described by Manilal as ‘rare’ or ‘getting rarer’. Bowen worked with modelmaker Gideon Bohannon to produce rubber moulds and dyed casts of these. And then with Belgian craftsman, Serge Pirard, to create a bespoke papermaking deckle and mould based on the 17th-century laid paper used in Hortus Malabaricus.

Also exhibited are some of a number of artist books that Bowen had been working on. Early historical herbaria took the form of bound volumes. These were often cut up during the 19th century and the mounted specimens were sold or exchanged, creating new collections. The artist books refer to this practice of binding and unbinding – cutting up, re-ordering and re-constructing. Discarded fragments from other works produced during the course of the project are interspersed and woven between the pages, which reveal laser-engraved images of models of herbarium specimens. The books also reveal reconstructed elements from images of 17th-century engravings, staged cutting and pinpricks into the surface of the paper and the residue of plant dyes.

The sensory relationship between sight and touch is explored not only through the nature of the books’ construction, but also through a range of other means. Indigo, shellac, wax, madder and catachu are amongst sustainable dyes and materials which invite different material and visual engagement. Contrast between crackle and silence when turning the pages, dependent on the choice of papers and their treatment, has been given consideration, as has the smoothness and roughness of the papers’ surfaces.

The works also reflect the unbound historical herbarium as a palimpsest – over decades, information on specimen backing papers was often re-assessed and subsequently, crossed out or added to. Bowen's interest in temporary systems of storage and labelling as a means to form new connections and narratives, also prompted the nature of these multi-faceted works.

Siân Bowen, After Hortus Malabaricus, 2019

Siân Bowen, Christoper Jones and Daniel Laskarin. Laser engraving, gesso, studio discards and found material, 2019

For further details about the project including an accompanying micro-conference, Sensing and Presencing the Imperceptible, please see: sianbowen.com

The project has been generously supported by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2017-19) and Arts University Bournemouth. It also forms part of the international programme, EXTRACTION: Art on the Edge of the Abyss.
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