In Ways of Being Alive (Polity, 2022), French philosopher Baptiste Morizot notes: “By no longer paying attention to the living world, to other species, to environments, to the ecological dynamics that weave everyone together, we are creating from scratch a mute and absurd cosmos.” In other words, we have become alienated from the planet, and all that exists upon it, seeing “nature” as something altogether separate from ourselves. Jan Prengel’s Plants from Space series leans into this school of thought, presenting minimalist portraits of flora as if they were priceless museum exhibits: oddities or found relics from a by-gone era. Shooting each stem against regal tones of ruby, emerald and navy, Prengel simultaneously draws attention to the opulent “alien” beauty of protruding stalks, trumpet-shaped petals and sharp thistles, whilst provoking the reader to question how, why and when organic matter became somewhat foreign to us. janprengel.com

All images: Jan Prengel, Plants from Space (2020). Courtesy of the artist and Tappan, Los Angeles.