Herbarium, lux et picturare

This project focuses on the contemporary retranscription and graphic translation of images of living things. Linking graphic representations and scientific interpretations, this formal exploration presents a variation due to the inscribing tools and supports used. Drawing on the collection of the LY Herbarium, one of the largest in the world, the creation of contemporary imagery of archived and protected specimens enables us, through the design of tools and mediation, to take them out of the closed filing cabinets of archive corridors and make them visible to as many people as possible.

In the context of events open to the public, the project proposes to exhibit the various retranscriptions produced within the LY Herbarium, in order to create visual imaginations without the objective of scientific reality.

The decomposition of the shapes making up an image of biological specimens from the LY Herbarium collection brings out a number of forms: contours, edges, counter-forms… The study of these various forms makes it possible to create a graphic lexicon.

This graphic vocabulary can be translated into various tools and printing processes. A first exploration took place with a printing plotter. Understanding how the robotic arm works allowed us to play with its printing methodology, its weaknesses and its strengths. A second exploration took place with a laser cutter, enabling us to print life-like specimens in actual size. These tangible translations enable the LY Herbarium’s collection to be discovered at first hand. The exhibition and workshop manipulations of these prints bring the biological specimens back to life. Inked in black and white or volumized in color, they are attempts at the graphic restoration of biological specimens, offering a new perspective on living things.