Photo credit: Kevin Tully
“tillandsia” is the celebration of an innocuous plant that is misnamed a moss, considered a weed, and accused of being a parasite. Live Oaks in Texas look like they have stepped out of old growth forests. This impression comes partly from the twisting, sprawling form of the trees itself, and party from the ferns, mosses and air plants that grown within their canopies. One of these, however, is often reviled – Ball Moss. A post in a neighborhood Facebook group asking for help in “getting rid of the Ball Moss that makes the trees messy”, alongside the growing trend for air plants like Ball Moss, as home decoration, was the catalyst for this work.
For this project Roberts collected 36 specimens of tillandsia recurvata, commonly known as Ball Moss, from a single patch of forest where the plants had fallen from their host trees. To underscore the individuality and variety of this group of plants she produced unique lumen photograms, repeating the style while varying the specimen and the paper. Over 30 black and white darkroom papers from nearly one hundred years of manufacture were utilized to make these photograms. The lumen prints are installed in a museum-style table display with an accompanying field guide that reveals the true nature of the Ball Moss plant.
The exhibition is on view from September 7 to November 18, 2018 at A Smith Gallery in Johnson City, Texas. The opening reception will be held September 29th from 4 to 8pm – see the Facebook event for more details.