ANTHROPOPHYTA by Sae Honda

“This is, so to say, a semi-imaginary natural history book which aims to create a chance that the characteristic of each artificial plant (hereinafter this is called “Anthropophyta”) is observed and appreciated with a sense-of-wonder like natural plants.”

Being fascinated with artificial materials with natural appearance, Sae Honda made a semi-fictional encyclopedia of botany, in which she has interwoven truth and fiction. It all starts from an untruth fabricated by her: that artificial plants have been accepted as real plants in the world of botany. Plants that linger quietly in the corner of a room or on the street, without seeking water nor light ー the so called ‘artificial plants’. They are never observed nor researched scientifically like natural plants, yet they keep spreading steadily and quietly in our everyday lives. She was interested in such a mysterious being, and made a study trip to some artificial plants factories in Guangzhou (China). The world of artificial plants is humorously delineated with her academic-like depictions of the travel report and the photographs of 70 leaves that she has collected.

For this presentation and launch at San Serriffe, the original collection of 70 fake leaves will be displayed together with her photographic works taken in Guangzhou. In addition, special posters designed for the launch by Akiko Wakabayashi will be also available.

Sae Honda is a Netherlands based jeweller / artist, born in Chiba, Japan. After graduating from Musashino Art University in Tokyo in 2010, she studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Some of her works are in the collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.