Artist Statement – Herbacentrice

The silent stop-motion animation Herbacentrice is a proposition for nature cinema in a time when western society’s perceptions of the real and simulated are blurred. The most popular genetically modified plant crops (corn, canola, soy, cotton, tomato, tobacco) are collaged together in this animation to generate alternative plant forms. Their new physical traits and behaviours are no longer identifiable or predictable.

The images in Herbacentrice are generated by cutting out photocopied transparencies of GMO plants, which are then photographed in new plant combinations on a lighting table (traditionally used to view slides). The title Herbacentrice is collaged from the words herbaceous and cockentrice, which was an edible monster constructed for feasts of the fifteenth century. Herbacentrice is comprised of 12 short vignettes based on the format of the underwater nature films of French scientist and avant-garde filmmaker Jean Painlevé (1902 – 1989), who believed that nature film-making was “a means of democratising scientific research”.