Angola to Vietnam
Christopher Williams
1989
Angola to Vietnam
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What initially appear to be herbarium photographs of rare flowers are, on closer inspection, images of glass botanical models made to scale by the Czech father-and-son glass artists Leopold Blaschka (1822–1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857–1939). ...
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Angola to Vietnam
Christopher Williams
1989
Ghent: Imschoot, uitgevers
80 pages
21 × 15 cm

What initially appear to be herbarium photographs of rare flowers are, on closer inspection, images of glass botanical models made to scale by the Czech father-and-son glass artists Leopold Blaschka (1822–1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857–1939). Their renowned collection of glass flowers preserved at Harvard Museum of Natural History is among the institution’s most celebrated treasures.


 


Drawing from Harvard’s sculptural plants, Christopher Williams reorders the collection’s botanical classification according to national origin, selecting twenty-seven specimens corresponding to countries identified by Amnesty International as sites where enforced disappearance was used as a tool of political repression. Each photograph is accompanied by a label combining taxonomic descriptions of the plant with information about the photographic composition.


 


By replacing botanical taxonomy with geopolitical classification, Williams introduces a sociopolitical dimension into the representation of nature. “From Angola to Vietnam” examines how systems of knowledge and classification can reveal histories of violence and state control. The book concludes with a twenty-eighth plate: an uncanny reproduction of the cover of the French edition of Elle, dated 15 August 1988. Depicting models from around the world arranged like a bouquet of national identities, each figure is marked by a sailor-style hat bearing their country of origin. The image extends Williams’s interrogation of classification, representation, and the relationship between national identity and visual culture.

Ghent: Imschoot, uitgevers
80 pages
21 × 15 cm

What initially appear to be herbarium photographs of rare flowers are, on closer inspection, images of glass botanical models made to scale by the Czech father-and-son glass artists Leopold Blaschka (1822–1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857–1939). Their renowned collection of glass flowers preserved at Harvard Museum of Natural History is among the institution’s most celebrated treasures.

 

Drawing from Harvard’s sculptural plants, Christopher Williams reorders the collection’s botanical classification according to national origin, selecting twenty-seven specimens corresponding to countries identified by Amnesty International as sites where enforced disappearance was used as a tool of political repression. Each photograph is accompanied by a label combining taxonomic descriptions of the plant with information about the photographic composition.

 

By replacing botanical taxonomy with geopolitical classification, Williams introduces a sociopolitical dimension into the representation of nature. “From Angola to Vietnam” examines how systems of knowledge and classification can reveal histories of violence and state control. The book concludes with a twenty-eighth plate: an uncanny reproduction of the cover of the French edition of Elle, dated 15 August 1988. Depicting models from around the world arranged like a bouquet of national identities, each figure is marked by a sailor-style hat bearing their country of origin. The image extends Williams’s interrogation of classification, representation, and the relationship between national identity and visual culture.

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What initially appear to be herbarium photographs of rare flowers are, on closer inspection, images of glass botanical models made to scale by the Czech father-and-son glass artists Leopold Blaschka (1822–1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857–1939). Their renowned collection of glass flowers preserved at Harvard Museum of Natural History is among the institution’s most celebrated treasures.

 

Drawing from Harvard’s sculptural plants, Christopher Williams reorders the collection’s botanical classification according to national origin, selecting twenty-seven specimens corresponding to countries identified by Amnesty International as sites where enforced disappearance was used as a tool of political repression. Each photograph is accompanied by a label combining taxonomic descriptions of the plant with information about the photographic composition.

 

By replacing botanical taxonomy with geopolitical classification, Williams introduces a sociopolitical dimension into the representation of nature. “From Angola to Vietnam” examines how systems of knowledge and classification can reveal histories of violence and state control. The book concludes with a twenty-eighth plate: an uncanny reproduction of the cover of the French edition of Elle, dated 15 August 1988. Depicting models from around the world arranged like a bouquet of national identities, each figure is marked by a sailor-style hat bearing their country of origin. The image extends Williams’s interrogation of classification, representation, and the relationship between national identity and visual culture.

Ghent: Imschoot, uitgevers
80 pages
21 × 15 cm

What initially appear to be herbarium photographs of rare flowers are, on closer inspection, images of glass botanical models made to scale by the Czech father-and-son glass artists Leopold Blaschka (1822–1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857–1939). Their renowned collection of glass flowers preserved at Harvard Museum of Natural History is among the institution’s most celebrated treasures.

 

Drawing from Harvard’s sculptural plants, Christopher Williams reorders the collection’s botanical classification according to national origin, selecting twenty-seven specimens corresponding to countries identified by Amnesty International as sites where enforced disappearance was used as a tool of political repression. Each photograph is accompanied by a label combining taxonomic descriptions of the plant with information about the photographic composition.

 

By replacing botanical taxonomy with geopolitical classification, Williams introduces a sociopolitical dimension into the representation of nature. “From Angola to Vietnam” examines how systems of knowledge and classification can reveal histories of violence and state control. The book concludes with a twenty-eighth plate: an uncanny reproduction of the cover of the French edition of Elle, dated 15 August 1988. Depicting models from around the world arranged like a bouquet of national identities, each figure is marked by a sailor-style hat bearing their country of origin. The image extends Williams’s interrogation of classification, representation, and the relationship between national identity and visual culture.

MORE BOOKS

What initially appear to be herbarium photographs of rare flowers are, on closer inspection, images of glass botanical models made to scale by the Czech father-and-son glass artists Leopold Blaschka (1822–1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857–1939). Their renowned collection of glass flowers preserved at Harvard Museum of Natural History is among the institution’s most celebrated treasures.

 

Drawing from Harvard’s sculptural plants, Christopher Williams reorders the collection’s botanical classification according to national origin, selecting twenty-seven specimens corresponding to countries identified by Amnesty International as sites where enforced disappearance was used as a tool of political repression. Each photograph is accompanied by a label combining taxonomic descriptions of the plant with information about the photographic composition.

 

By replacing botanical taxonomy with geopolitical classification, Williams introduces a sociopolitical dimension into the representation of nature. “From Angola to Vietnam” examines how systems of knowledge and classification can reveal histories of violence and state control. The book concludes with a twenty-eighth plate: an uncanny reproduction of the cover of the French edition of Elle, dated 15 August 1988. Depicting models from around the world arranged like a bouquet of national identities, each figure is marked by a sailor-style hat bearing their country of origin. The image extends Williams’s interrogation of classification, representation, and the relationship between national identity and visual culture.

MORE BOOKS