Paper short abstract:

Flowers/plants have the power evoke lost places, moments and people. Bringing together archival examples and my creative practice (textiles and floristry), I will reflect over how this haptic engagement with plants has added understanding and agency in my response to environmental loss.

Paper long abstract:

In my research as an historian of botanical collections, I have been struck by a consistency in the evocative power of flowers/plants to capture and recall places, moments and people. Flowers adorn rites of passage in both celebration and mourning. When collected and preserved, they become expressions of past times and places. They can encapsulate loss, whether personal memories and nostalgia for childhood or herbarium specimens from ecosystems long since urbanised.

Bringing together archival examples and my own creative practice (textiles and floristry), I will use this contribution to reflect over how this haptic engagement with plants has added depth and agency in response to environmental loss on both a personal and global level.