De|Code, which opened at the National Botanic Garden of Wales Courtyard Gallery on Thursday October 6 features work by artist Emma Tuck which has been inspired by research at the Garden to barcode all 1,143 of the native flowering plants of Wales.
The exhibition focuses on four rare species – spreading bellflower, meadow thistle, whorled caraway, and an endemic whitebeam. Emma has produced a series of relief prints, collages, and artists books in which the shapes of flower parts, leaves, stems, twigs, and berries have been abstracted and reinterpreted, enabling us to see these plants in new and unusual ways.
As part of the Barcode Wales project, each plant is being sequenced to generate a unique code made up of the bases A, G, C, and T — a visual motif which is repeated throughout the exhibition. Emma says: “My work is informed by natural forms and patterns. Some of these patterns are visible to the human eye in leaves and flowers; others are hidden away in the genetic code of plants.”
She adds: “This work has been produced against a complex backdrop. On one hand, the National Botanic Garden of Wales and institutions around the world are identifying and thereby helping to preserve plant species through barcoding projects. On the other, thousands of flowering plants are becoming extinct every year due to habitat loss and climate change.” In Britain, around twenty per cent of the native flora is under threat.
The exhibition runs from Thursday 6 October 2011 until February 2012.
National Botanic Garden of Wales, Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire SA32 8HG
Opening hours: 10am–4.30pm
Normal Garden admission applies: adults, £8.50; concessions, £7; children (5–16) £4.50; family ticket (two adults and up to four children) £21. There is no additional charge for the Gallery.
