{"product_id":"angola-to-vietnam","title":"Angola to Vietnam","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDrawing 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBy 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 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eElle\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54055554449747,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/AngolaToVietnam.png?v=1782028375","url":"https:\/\/metabooks.art\/products\/angola-to-vietnam","provider":"Metabooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}