Florilegia

Amateur botanist Anna Atkins is widely considered to be the first woman ever to have taken a photograph, but visual artist Annabel Dover's investigations suggest that she doctored and adulterated certain specimens. Florilegia is a complex mixture of scientific observation and tender, girlish enthusiasm, and is a profound meditation on memory, loss, and our relationship to images.

Format: Paperback / softback
Publication date: 31 May 2021
Publisher: MOIST

Amateur botanist Anna Atkins is widely regarded as the first woman to have taken a photograph. She employs the photographic medium to depict with utmost accuracy, aiding other scientists in their research. However, visual artist Annabel Dover's investigations suggest that Atkins doctored and adulterated certain specimens, collaging different sections of different plants together.

In the subversive, scrapbook narrative that follows both historical and imaginary characters, stories are woven together: Henry James drowns his friend's clothes after suicide; Joe Orton's cleaning lady contemplates the collaged wall in his bedsit; and Anna Atkins makes the seaweed prints that will later appear in the first photographic book published. Florilegia is a profound meditation on memory, loss, and our relationship to images, combining scientific observation with tender, girlish enthusiasm.

Atkins' work is characterized by her use of blue and white print, which has the night-time glow of a Joseph Cornell ice-cube box or a Stan Brakhage film. The poppy glows candescent but is gone. Atkins' dirty fingernails are pressing the damp skin of the poppy into cotton wadding and blotting paper until the life has dried out of it.

Despite her achievements, Atkins faced challenges and criticism during her lifetime. Some scholars argue that her photographs were not taken by her, but by her husband or other individuals. Additionally, Dover's investigations suggest that Atkins doctored and adulterated certain specimens, raising questions about the accuracy and integrity of her work.

Despite these controversies, Atkins' contributions to photography and botanical science are significant. She paved the way for other women to enter the field and her work continues to inspire and influence artists and scientists today. Florilegia is a testament to Atkins' talent, creativity, and dedication to her craft, and it remains a valuable contribution to the history of photography and botanical science.

Weight: 142g
Dimension: 120 x 189 x 12 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781913430047