An altered book where old botanical images have been printed within the pages of a romantic novel; the images have been specifically researched and chosen for their similarity to human sexual anatomy.
In his botanical classification in Species Plantarum, Swedish physician Linnaeus raised disapproval in his colleagues and ended up being called a “botanical pornographer” for his choice of organizing plants based on their reproductive organs (sexual system). He was actually having fun in finding plant names based on human anatomy.
This episode of suspected botanical perversion is the inspiration for the altered book, created for the Symposium Perversions of Paper.
Does the perversion lay in the viewer eye, that sees phallic symbols in harmless mushrooms? Or is it instead in the maker of the book, that obsessively researches and sums up controversial images?
Thank you to Alessandro Solci for his precious botanical advice.