Botanicals

Stephen Inggs grew up in South Africa in the Western Cape surrounded by vineyards and farms. His interest in the environment is a recurring theme. With his botanical works he explores the relationship that flowers have with our everyday life. The flora he chooses to photograph are deliberate and considered. They range from the protea, an indigenous flower which is the symbol of South Africa, to the hydrangea, an invasive species from Asia, and the rose - brought to South Africa by the first Dutch settlers and planted as an early warning system to alert the farmer to aphids before they reach the vines. Inggs uses ubiquitous flowers and plants to explore these complex issues around colonialism, migration, land ownership and ecology. For him, the ‘garden becomes the site of cultural critique’.