Moonrise
installation, Terra American Art Foundation, Giverny, France, 2017
herbarium, burned press, vile of poison, artwork from local fleamarket, green ourescent light
Monet's Garden, Giverny, France 2017
This installation was created in several stages. In the beginning I collected a sampling of plants from the Giverny Monet’s Garden Museum. I focused on three taxonomic categories of plants: Herbs, as an example of plants which are edible, medicinal and pleasant to the senses; Flowers which have strong associations with ancient knowledge and aesthetic denitions of beauty; Bamboo as a representation of Orientalism in art and built environment.
I placed all the owers and herbs I collected into a botanic press I constructed. I then attached all of the owers, herbs and bamboo leaves to sheets of paper, creating an Herbarium. I attached the 365 Bamboo leaves to paper made of bamboo.
In the last stage of this piece, I selected the poisonous owers from those I collected. Below I list those poisonous plants I discovered and their toxic effects on the human body. Through a steam distillation apparatus I prepared a poisonous concentraton made entirely of these owers. The liquid contained in this vile is poison and if consumed, can kill you.
Special thanks to the employees of Giverny Monet’s Garden
Poisonous Mask
View of Installation
Burned herbal press (artwork from local fleamarket made of deadly butterfly wings), object
Rhododendron catawbiense
strong stomach ache, drooling
Digitalis Purpurea
auses nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, appearance of blurred outlines (halos), drooling, abnormal heart rate, cardiac arrhythmias, weakness, collapse, dilated pupils, tremors, seizures, death
Datura stramonium
skin rash, redness of the skin ,urinary retention, accelerated heart rate, convulsions, death
Heracleum Sosnowskyi Manden
large blisters and symptoms of burns, internal bleeding, diarrhea
Clematis Salivation
vomiting, diarrhea
Wisteria
dizziness, confusion, speech problems, nausea, vomiting, stomach pains, diarrhea, collapse, gastroenteritis
makes your mouth, throat, tongue and lips go numb if eaten,paralysis of the nervous system, death
Lilium longi orum
makes your mouth, throat, tongue and lips go numb if eaten,paralysis of the nervous system, death
Hydrangea arborescens
stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, sweating, diarrhea,labored breathing, convulsions, coma
Rumex crispus
muscle tremors, weakness, depression and recumbency
Cicuta douglasii
nervousness, breathing dif culties, tremors , collapse, sudden death
severe eye in ammation and irritation,drowsiness, tremors or shaking of the muscles, seizures, collapse, coma that can lead to death
Nerium oleander dermatisis
severe eye inammation and irritation,drowsiness, tremors or shaking of the muscles, seizures, collapse, coma that can lead to death
