Peacock Flower

This work is part of the Flowers of Evil, a larger artistic research project that explores the interplay of natural history and colonialism. As part of this research project I have researched the stories of various plants. Peacock Flower consists of a photograph of a 1967 pro-choice demonstration in the UK and a drawing of a peacock flower taken from a work by Maria Sibylla Merian - a Swiss naturalist, insect researcher and botanical draftswoman who traveled to Surinam in 1699 to spot insects to study. She documented her observations in detailed, extraordinarily beautiful drawings. In her book Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (1705) Sibylla also describes the use of the peacock flower as an abortifacient by indigenous women. They would, as Sibylla writes, use it to spare their descendants the suffering of slavery.

Published in