Inspired by surimono: Integrating photography and poetry to bring plants into focus

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement Plants are our sources of oxygen, food, medicines, clothing, building materials and fuels. They are part of our history, our trade and our imaginations. Here, we investigate the potential for integration of photographs and poetry to bring plants to life and let them tell their stories, inspired by the ancient Japanese woodprint artform, surimono. The resulting ‘photo surimono’ open up new opportunities to engage with the natural world at the juxtaposition of the written and the visual, to combat the cognitive bias of plant blindness and to introduce more connected ways of thinking about plants, people and sustainability into educational programmes.

Keywords

• education
• engagement
• photography
• plant blindness
• plants
• poetry