After a recent visit to Yorkshire Sculpture Park to see Peter Randall Pages exhibition I was inspired to research phyllotaxis. This (very briefly) is the arrangement of cells, organs etc. Within plants which follow a mathematical pattern. The way leaves grow on plant stems etc. follows a pattern. It can either be alternate, opposite, whorled or spiral. I particularly like the phyllotactic patterns made by the seeds of a sunflower head. It has two oppositely directed spirals, one going clockwise the other anti clockwise; this creates an optical effect of criss-crossing spirals which is fascinating. (These patterns are not just contained in plants they can be found in many places even in the markings on some seashells). These phyllotatic patterns also correlate with Fibonacci numbers. When the spirals are multiple they create whorls and they then have multiples of Fibonacci numbers. I have been looking out for sunflower to photograph. I have found one, unfortunately some of the seeds are missing now, but the pattern can still be clearly seen even in this area. (This is something that I feel I can particularly develop through my print work).
At the same time as developing the sculptures and documenting them photographically, I have been developing drawn records of these forms. I want these images to suggest the historical conventions used in the documentation of natural history. I initially started pencil drawings onto clean white paper. These first drawings are o.k., but I want to give the pictures more importance and a history.
I tried out a few differing ways of presentation then decided to try aging the paper… I was not too convinced about this as I thought the concept a little silly in some ways. But the thought of what it might be like wouldn’t go away so I had a go anyway. I am quite glad I did now as it has given the drawings another edge of fragility, as the paper itself now looks fragile. It adds to the images importance and believability as a botanical record. You handle old documents with more reverence and care than you might I more recently produced document and you seem to care about its reliability/accuracy less, as if accepting it to be the best record possible at the time.
Naming some of the forms I have drawn may be necessary, to recreate the recording conventions used both in the past and today. I do not want to simply produce a ‘made up’ name with no reasoning behind it. It would be good if it had some basis in real botanical recording…. I will need to chase this up.
