MUTATIS PLANTS. Part 1.

Im writing to introduce you to my new art project for this current year 2021.

After going thorough a year of uncertainties and constant changes, where exhibitions are nothing like what they used to be,( I guess, like many artists), I have been trying to come up with other ways to interact with the public.
The idea I came up with is about painting small murals throughout the Ibizan man made surfaces in the countryside, during the course of this year.
The images will be imaginary plants, that once I develop them, will be filed and defined by my friend and biologist Rocío García Calvo.

FOUNDATIONS
The idea behind this project comes from my deep concern about the climate change and how it´s manifesting in every single corner of the planet.
It always makes me think about the possibility of having to adapt to an environment that little by little becomes more alien to us, and, in extreme cases, having to move more habitable areas, or even the possibility of becoming nomad.

This is not a situation that has reached my immediate environment yet, but it´s something that is already affecting many communities throughout the planet, and so, I feel responsible to shed light on this fact.

Adaptability and resilience have been capacities in which I have invested great attention and thought throughout my life. I have always been fascinated by the subtle and extremely gradual transformation, almost unseen, that takes place in life and that only seems to become evident over a period of time. To adjust ones attention to these changes whilst they are happening, intrigues me, to say the least.

In this project, I´m focusing on the plant kingdom, as it symbolizes being rooted to the ground and not being able to get up and move to a better spot. Plants are obliged, when it´s environment changes to adapt in the best possible way, and this is where I get to play with it´s mutations creatively.

The Mutatis plants will take on shapes and figures that might incorporate elements of its changing habitat. They will only appear on man made surfaces made of imported materials, never on local stone, adobe or wood.
They will represent our need to reflect on the impact that our actions have on the environment, and how this has accelerated the changes and thus our need to develop resilience.

PARTICIPATION

Those of you who have properties in rural areas of Ibiza can request a Mutatis Plant to be painted on one of your walls, but it must be visible from a public pass or road.
Each plant will be photographed in it´s habitat, filed and catalogued by the biologist Rocío García Calvo, to be part of a herbarium on a blog. (https://mutatisplants.blogspot.com/)
Although the plants need to be painted in places that can be seen from a public pass, the location will not be given in the blog, just so the possibility to discover is left open.
If this project has a high number of participants I will launch a proposal at a certain point, where the first person who can give me the correct location of all of the plants will receive a little prize.
Also, this could turn into a book. See where this goes.

Participation requirements:

-To have a wall or surface made of cement or blocs. It can either be painted or not, but must be visible from a public pass or road.

-Each plant will have a maximum height of one meter.

-Each plant will cost 30€ as a way of participating. If one can´t afford this we can arrange a suitable exchange or, if on the other hand, one wants a larger or more extensive mural, we can agree on a different price.

-Each plant will be unique and include elements of it´s environment.

-Each plant will be photographed, filed by the biologist and put up as part of an online exhibition in a blog.

– I will cycle to all the locations to reduce the carbon footprint.

-This project will be up and running all through 2021 over any corner of the Ibiza countryside.

To get in contact and order one of these plants, please call me or send me an email and I will arrange it.
tlf. +34 607665657
email: romaniesanchez@gmail.com

Best Wishes and thank you for reading this.
I hope you would like to participate.
Romanie.

MUTATIS PLANT HERBARIUM . Part 2.
This project is based on three scientific ways that bring together science and art.
The first is plant taxonomy, the part of botany that deals with the classification of plants.
Plants are arranged in groups according to the affinities they feature.
This systematic grouping of plants can be undertaken from different points of view and for different purposes, applying logics to achieve a coherent inspection of the body of study.

Another scientific way is through exploration and discovery. The European expeditions of the 18th century traveled to unknown and unexplored places to accuire new knowledge and be able to identify and classify as many species as possible. These expeditions collected extensively with intellectual interest, documenting any new species they found.
Today, scientific research parties are still carried out in search of new species or new knowledge about the ones we already know.

The third, is botanical illustration. The drawing of species focuses on a scientific record and displays the defining characteristics of a species, emphasizing the botanical precision that allows the plants identification. The botanical illustrations involve a certain artistic license and a distorted record of beauty to ensure it´s scientific rigor.

Convergence occurs in Romanie’s project.
Romanie is a painter whom I have followed for many years. Little by little, painting by painting, I can´t help notice how she has been creating her own universe, a new world, in which plants play a great role.
And now, with this new project, brings together the expression of a surrealist universe in the flora, and though it, creates a discourse on scientific and ecological themes that in the end, can be read as “a new world to explore” for a scientific game.

Starting from the inspiration provided by Alberto Baraya’s Herbarium of artificial plants, or more recently , with Eduardo Barba’s book “El jardín del Prado”, the idea emerged to create a “Herbarium of Romanie´s invented and mutant flowers”.
The project “Herbarium of Romanie´s mutant flowers” aims to make a taxonomy or classification of these invented specimens, group them, according their common characteristics, formulating a description, based on the usual scientific methodology, and create an inventory or herbarium, arranging them as it would be done for an analytical botanical illustration.
An attempt will be made to apply a joint logic with the creator, in order to include the ecology of these new specimens and incorporate as many of the characteristics of these plants as possible.
The project provides an opportunity to unite art and science, to satisfy both the human desire to sort and classify, which is deeply rooted in the scientific mind, and the pleasure of contemplating the beauty of plants, both of which converge in the hope of trying to better understand the world.

Rocío García Calvo is an Environmental Agent in Ibiza. Studied biology in Valencia and due to her interest in the plant kingdom, graduated as a botanist. Then, in and aim to fulfill a more personal and artistic facet of herself, she broadened her studies In Barcelona by undertaking a masters degree in Ladscape Architechture.
“I maintain a constant personal exploration, embracing new questions and search for knowledge, both from the perspective of science and art, as either way is an expression of human creativity”.