The Rhizome (2024) installation photographs.
about
The Rhizome
Group Exhibition
27 May – 31 May 2024
The Art House by Acrylicize, London, United Kingdom
Curated by: Jay Lim, Hassan Alhussain, Jingyao Jia, Dan Higginson
Text by: Jay Lim
In 1843, Botanist and Photographer Anna Atkins published the first-ever photobook: A collection of cyanotypes documenting the vastness of British Algae. In these cyanotypes, the various aquatic plant life seems to sprawl like a neural network, dispersing, intersecting, twisting, and entangling.
Now 181 years later, we see a similar theme recurring in The Rhizome. From familial migration across the Spanish Diaspora and the exchange of cultural aesthetics between China and England to youth workers, refugees, and migrants in London, these diverse stories conveyed by the 33 Second Year BA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography students from London College of Communication re-enact thenarratives contained within the biologics of Atkins’ book.
In our increasingly fraught and conflicted world, The Rhizome wants to remind us to extend our humanity to those we may disagree with – because we are more connected to each other than we know, just like rhizomes.