PHYTOGRAPHY

United Kingdom, 2020, 8’9’’

Phytography dives into the rich and varied world of plant chemistry. This collection of organic ‘objets trouvés’ demonstrates how nature generates multiple creative solutions, each one structured intricately. Through the application of a simple chemical process, the selected leaves, petals and stems have imprinted their own images on the film’s emulsion. Shapes, colours and rhythms whirl across the screen drawing the viewer into a world beyond language and speech. The film taps into a realm of mutualism and generosity, readily available despite the environmental havoc caused by human greed and overconsumption. 

Karel Doing

Independent artist, filmmaker and researcher. His interest in experimental film and expanded cinema is reframed within a critical approach toward modernity and post-modernity, in search of new meanings of the real and the material. Through the study of (phyto)chemical process, the recording of oral history and the (re)use of cinematic heritage he explores alternative knowledge systems. In many of his works the rhythmical, painterly and performative qualities of the analogue film medium are foregrounded.