Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca
Flora encounters in Southern Mexico
On my first of many visits to the enchanting state of Oaxaca, Mexico, I fell in love with the Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca–a sprawling botanical garden located in the heart of Oaxaca City on the grounds of the sixteenth-century Santo Domingo monastery complex. The flora is arranged according to the diverse climatic regions of Oaxaca where the endemic species grow, which represents an ethnobotanical history that weaves together the collaborative exchange between plants and people.
Several years ago I was given hand-written permission by the late, great artist Francisco Toledo in response to an email inquiry I sent asking his permission to photographically document the garden. Maestro Toledo was instrumental in helping create the public garden as one of his many preservation efforts advocating for indigenous arts and culture in the southern state. I was thrilled when I received his well wishes, and recently ran across a series of cyanotypes that I made during the self-directed residency.
I have never shown this work before, but have shared digital images I made during this time on my website. Everyday I would take to the garden with my large, light-sensitive containers filled with recycled paper bags from corn sacks collected at the Central de Abastos Mercado that I treated with cyanotype chemistry. Plant species that had been pruned for compost would be placed on the treated paper bags and left in the strength of the Oaxacan sun to impress their essence on the recycled corn sacks.
Below is what resulted from this experiment; each of these artist print cyanotypes is available to purchase, varying from large to small scale; please send inquiries to me at: info@katrinajane.net. Thank you for being here and your continued interest in Field Notes. And if you ever make it to Oaxaca City, please don’t miss this botanical sanctuary.
