Wendy McMurdo
Indeterminate Object v (flora)
2019
Limited edition of 18
Signed and numbered by the artist on a Certificate of Authenticity
C print on Fuji Matt Paper
Image Size: 230 x 230mm
Paper Size: 300 x 300 mm
£280
Indeterminate Object v (flora) was inspired by the flowers growing in the garden beyond Wendy McMurdo’s studio. Watching the cycle of germination, growth and renewal from her studio window seemed in direct opposition to her world inside and also a life largely spent online. She began to use software predominantly used to create the virtual shapes in computer games to intervene in photographs of the flora growing in her garden.
Taking photographs of various flowers (in this case, lilac blossom) at various stages in the growing season, she froze them twice - once in the taking of the photograph and then again in reshaping these natural forms when fed through the algorithms of a fractal generating software.
The theme of time in relation to the still life – where both growth and decay are often collapsed together into a single picture – is explored and the image of the flower is presented as transient and mutable and symbolic of both life and death.
This series is currently exhibited in part from October – December 2020, as part of Florilegium – a gathering of flowers. Florilegium was the inaugural biennial exhibition marking the re-opening of Inverleith House at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh. It also marked Inverleith House’s new status as a ‘Climate House’, a unique space to critically explore our complex relationship with the natural world.
