The Fort Worth Botanic Garden presents Dornith Doherty: Illuminations: Past, Present, and Future of Fern Research, an art exhibition free and open to the public through Jun. 30 at the Madeline R. Samples Exhibit Hall in the BRIT building at 1700 University Dr. Fort Worth, Texas 76107.
The exhibition displays the result of a two-year research-based creative affiliation with Dr. Alejandra Vasco, Research Botanist, Ana Niño, Librarian, and BRIT Herbarium Director Tiana Rehman, in which Doherty presents new large-scale artworks that engage with the past, chronicle the present, and project our possible ecological futures. The exhibition includes Doherty’s large-scale transparencies made from diaphanized plants collected in 1956, artworks made from images of ferns recently discovered in the tropics of Colombia, and a projection of animated genomic data from these plants.
“Among Dornith’s chief concerns are the philosophical, cultural, and ecological questions that are often left invisible when considering human entanglement in our rapidly changing environment,” Vasco says. “This confluence of interests led to her ongoing collaborations with scientists, archives, seed banks, natural history collections, and research institutes focused on the preservation of biodiversity and enhancing environmental resilience since 2008. It has been an incredible illuminating art and science collaboration, and we are thrilled that her artwork will be here for all to see.”
With these new artworks, Doherty brings to light the complex web of global scientific histories and the promising results of current day environmental research. Doherty’s work is concerned with our stewardship of the natural environment, and this new project explores the subject and the importance of present-day efforts in preserving today’s plant diversity for future generations.
PATRON caught up with Doherty on her artistic approach, the future of the ferns, and what this exhibition means to North Texas:
PATRON (P): The majority of your work is research-based. How do you approach the balance between art and science? What is your process?
Dornith Doherty (DD): I’m very concerned about our rapidly changing environment, and I find inspiration in working with scientists and others that are dedicated preserving our world’s biodiversity and studying ways to take effective remedial action.
Archival research can bring to light hidden gems of extraordinary beauty. While scientific collections might be the starting point, I am interested in creating work that is open-ended, escapes categorization, and can draw out subtle details that prompt reflection and a visual response.
In the two years I was an artist affiliate at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), I was able to study a wide assortment of objects, from crystalline leaf studies from the mid-20th century (1950s) to new species of plants from Colombia in the present day. These objects became starting point for creating fourteen new artworks.
P: What future are you seeing in the fern leaves?
DD: Ferns are ancient, and they existed before plants that make seeds like our fruit or grain crops. They have survived despite huge changes to their surroundings, so for me, they embody resilience and connect the distant past to our future.
In the exhibition, viewers will encounter artworks made from images of ferns pressed between the pages of newspapers. I was struck by the simultaneity of cultural history and natural history that was made visible by this collecting practice. The headlines highlighted events that were happening in Colombia around the time and location where the ferns were found. Some plants had not been seen in eighty years, which is a source of hope for the future.
There was a moment when collecting plants and preserving them in an herbarium seemed old fashioned, but now, with DNA research, these collections have become invaluable for research because you can track change in the plant populations over centuries.
We can’t imagine what future methods might be able to accomplish with historic collections, but it might even be possible to assist migrations of plants to more hospitable locations or reanimate some species that have been lost.
P: How has the structure and integrity of plant life changed over the years? Is that something the viewer can see in the diaphonized collection?
DD: The short answer to this question is yes. The beauty of the diaphanized leaf studies I discovered in the archive is breathtaking. They are only about 1 or 2 inches in size and are pressed between glass. The objects themselves have aged, and now appear almost like plants fossilized in amber. Their delicate translucency inspired me to create a 6.5 ft. x 14 ft. window installation that appears to be a stained-glass window. This artwork is installed outside of the gallery to create a space for contemplation through artistic intervention in the research wing of the building.
P: How did your creative collaboration with Dr. Alejandra Vasco, Research Botanist, Ana Niño, Librarian, and Tiana Rehman begin?
DD: I was invited by BRIT to present an exhibition in their gallery by their Gallery Director Erin White. I began by working with the BRIT Herbarium Director, Tiana Rehman. The collaboration grew in scope over time after I learned about the important work that Dr. Alejandra Vasco and her team were doing in Colombia.
P: In what ways does your process help distill big ideas into digestible bites for the viewer?
DD: My goal is not to illustrate, or to simplify big scientific concepts, although I may find them personally important. It is my hope that through metaphor and beauty, my work inspires people in a poetic way to connect with nature, think about our past, and to feel the need to preserve our planet for the future.
P: In order to steward towards a more sustainable ecological future, what significant lessons may we learn from the past?
DD: What I learn from the past is the resilience of life despite the odds. Seemingly fragile life forms like plants have the power to survive for eons, and it is my hope that encounters with my artworks will encourage attachment to nature and the will to preserve it for the future.
P: In what ways does Andean biodiversity contribute to Texas’ biodiversity? What lessons or connections exist?
DD: Our world is amazingly entangled, and the complex web of global connections that exist at varying scales, from air transportation to container ships, to migratory birds, and even air currents make our futures intertwined. We need to come together to preserve the future.