Image by Jesse Navarre Vos
IN CONVERSATION WITH PLANTS.
Cynthia Fan is an artist and researcher with a background in plant science and floristry. She holds a PhD in plant molecular biology from the University of Edinburgh/Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, where she investigated the genetic mechanisms regulating leaf shape variation in Begonia.
Cynthia’s practice exists as an investigation into plant morphological development and is informed by Agnes Arber’s approach to understanding plant form:
“To arrive at the fullest understanding of any individual plant form, we have, first, to realise it accurately by means of sensuous perception; secondly, to get the completest possible picture of it with the mind’s eye – a picture which receives sculptural solidity from the data gathered by touch, and internal concreteness from knowledge of anatomical structure; and thirdly, to advance beyond this representation, so as to grasp its underlying and surrounding context of significance, and to see it in its living aspect, and in its relation to other forms.”
from The Natural Philosophy of Plant Form (1950)
Her work weaves together scientific inquiry and visual expression, using the networks of interaction between plants, human beings and their environments as a research focus for exhibitions, installations, and writing. She has presented work internationally —both solo and through the collective PEAR_ED — and has curated numerous projects at Ensō House in London. As a contributing writer for Plant Magazine and a former artist-in-residence at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, her work reflects an ongoing relationship with the plants around her.