Fatal Flora

From my time in Ireland during the summer break I have built up a bank of research including photographs and drawings of poisonous, carnivorous and herbal plants. The idea to study ‘dangerous’ plants originated from my final project in the second year, which consisted of tropical plants with snippets of Venus fly traps. Whilst creating drawing studies of Venus fly traps, I was enthralled with the concept of danger among the delicate.

For my final major project, I would like to go into more depth with this concept by combining poisonous and carnivorous plants with herbal and delicate plants, Creating a contrast between the ‘good’ and the ‘evil’. I think this concept is quite challenging and risky as using poisonous plants rather than a simple ‘pretty’ motif is quite uncommon. I must be careful not to make it look too menacing, maybe experimenting with processes to make the dangerous look beautiful.

Inspired by the concept danger among the delicate I aim to create a collection of wallpapers with three stories based on an overarching theme of nature, the collection will be called Fatal Flora. Each story will feature poisonous plants, contact poisonous plants (irritates the skin) and carnivorous plants which will be intertwined with delicate florals. Each story will be called:

Lilium’s wrath / Pandemonium: poisonous plants

Venus’s Darlings / Enrapture: carnivorous plants

Ivy’s Scorn / Inferno: contact poisonous plants