Plethora Issue 12 - Explorations of botanical pigments.
Issue no. 12 of Plethora Magazine delves into hidden patterns behind all natural form in pursuit of the fractal codes that shape progressions of growth, transformation and dispersion in the vast splendor of organic structures. When tracing the archetypical outlines of these dynamic configurations, intricate formulars are revealed that allows profound insights to the blueprints of the seemingly chaotic fabric of life. Slowly a new order appears in the wild lines of turbulence, propagation and dispersion and clues emerge that we may later harness through a fragmented prism of logic and intuition of form.
The journey takes its course through an investigative tale of wondrous fractals, kaleidoscopic visions, the phenomenon of pareidolia, uncanny illusions of mind, the diffused consciousness of cephalopods and the impossibility of black swans.
In further exploration of the Plethora magazine #12 theme of Patterns and Fragments Plethora studio extended its conceptual investigation into the natural spectrum of botanical pigments in order to highlight the organic dye processes involved in many of the pioneering photographic printing techniques such as calotypes, cyanotypes, ferrotypes, anthotypes and more.
As a result we took a deep plunge into the dying well and ended up collaborating with the talented Danish textile Cæcilie Parfelt Vengberg on the process of the botanical dying of the ribbons for the issue 12 folder using plant pigments exclusive to the native Scandinavian soil, such as hazelnut and bramble, to achieve a special hue of burnt umbra as compliment to the Henry Fox Talbot calotype on the cover image.
For further elucidation watch Adam Jeppesens intricate work with the cultivation of traditional Anthotype prints - using a mixture of prolonged sun exposures of aquarelle papers immersed in volatile natural dye solutions from heather, eucalyptus, and rose madder to create ghostly, ephemeral portraits of random, digital entities.
