Robyn Stacey - Hot House 1

'Hot House 1' by highly acclaimed photoartist Robyn Stacey was produced while she was artist in residence at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The focus of her residency has been the Herbarium and this exhibition fittingly coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Herbarium this year.

Stacey's recent bodies of work including Blue Narcissus shown at Stills Gallery in 1999 have used the botanic as a place to begin an exploration of the relations between science, nature, mythology, cultural identity and photography. She draws on the rich history of botanic photography as well as the potentials for scale, colour and enhancement allowed by digital technology to explore her material.

'Hot House 1' documents both professional and amateur botanic endeavor in Australia from the late eighteenth century, drawing from the vast collection of plant specimens held at the Herbarium. As well as celebrating the "specimen" which lies at the core of the collection, these photographs bring a contemporary perspective to the Herbarium material, exploring the social and aesthetic dimensions of the collection.

During the Hot House 1 exhibition at Stills Gallery a second exhibition, Hot House 2 will be held at the Palm House in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney from 8th September. Works from the Hot House series will then be touring to regional galleries around Australia beginning with Hazelhurst Regional Gallery from 6th October where the exhibition will be called At First Site.