Conclusion

The relationship between the subject matter which is natural vegetable cotton, paper which is grown from the earth in plant and form, reflects the theme of plants as well as the organic plant forms printed directly from nature with the natural plant dyes which are present in the chemical make-up of the plant. The techniques and processes used reflect the incredible, almost magical (alchemy) and life-sustaining qualities of plants and especially the critical relationship humans have with plants. How we are destroying the world’s wild places at our own peril. The forms almost give a fossilised imprint onto the fabric which reflects the danger we face with the demise of plants, leading to our own extinction. The soft diaphanous curtain of the silk fabric reflects the delicate vulnerability our planet faces in the present state of global warming and climate change as well as the human impact on our natural world and environment. We as artists need to embrace the concept of the Anthropocene, as a story, a story of our planet and its inhabitants, from the most microscopic to the greatest. Were all under great risk.
In his publication "African Psychoactive Plants: Journeys in Phytoalchemy" the South African ethnobotanist Jean-Francois Sobiecki (2023) has explored and made a study of over 300 species of plants documented for purposes in African traditional medicine; the first comprehensive inventory of psychoactive plants from the continent. This includes plants with sedative, stimulant, memory enhancing, and visionary entheogenic uses amongst others, for treating various conditions such as : Alzheimer's, dementia, insomnia, epilepsy, stress, anxiety, and depression. Sobiecki unlocks the healing gifts of the African plants and has a vision of creating healing gardens to conserve these invaluable plants into the future and in the plants' role in creating an integrated planet.
My work expresses remnants, the ghosts of our human history, and its effects on our planet. How the Anthropocene gives mankind motivation and justification to stop its consumption before it is too late. Within the global environmental crisis the natural world needs critical political, social, and economic interventions, could art make a difference in bringing greater awareness of the predicament plants and our earth face or will we be left with countless mere traces of what once was?