A lifelong amateur artist, Hermann Rorschach showed people inkblots in order to discover what they saw, and how they saw it. Miami-based artist Jonathan Brooks employs a similar strategy with Botaniscopes, a semi-abstract photo series inspired by the dazzling beauty of Southern plant life. “Through the influence of life, science fiction, and fantasy, I aim to enhance a viewer’s perception of our environment and our relationship with nature,” he says. “[My work] is also a fun way to combine light, reflections, and symmetry by embracing unusual perspectives.”
Created as a love letter to Miami, Botaniscopes marries the blobby ambiguity of the Rorschach test with the swirling explosion of color and pattern at the end of a kaleidoscope. Each image of a palm frond, tropical flower, or cherry blossom is halved, then spliced to form a symmetrical whole; a perfect botanical mirror unfolding into infinity. Though Jonathan calls his environmentally conscious work “green,” the Botaniscopes series is rich with color: canary yellows and velvety pinks against the swimming pool blue of Miami’s sky. “The meaning of the word ‘green’ has outgrown the mere definition of the color,” he tells NOT REAL ART. “It’s now used and applied to almost everything related to anything benefiting or creating awareness about the environment.”
From the sun-soaked blossoms of “Spin” to the flushed flowers of “Red,” Botaniscopes turns the Southern landscape on its head, encouraging viewers to cultivate awe and appreciation for the natural world. Created as a “tribute to life and [the] environment,” the series is intended to spark curiosity, deepen perception and consciousness, and act as a reminder of Earth’s unparalleled beauty.
“The meaning of the word ‘green’ has outgrown the mere definition of the color.” — Jonathan Brooks
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All photos published with permission of the artist(s).
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