Not on display

Balsa (Ochroma lagopus)

Photograph
2001 (made)
Artist/Maker
Easterling, Angela (photographer)
Place of origin
Cornwall (made)

Same-size, direct photographic replica of a large, exotic leaf.

Object details

Category
Gardens & Gardening
Object type
Photograph
TitleBalsa (Ochroma lagopus) (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Silver-gelatin print (photogram)
Brief description
Silver-gelatin, same-size, direct photographic replica of a large, exotic leaf, yellow-cream in colour; Angela Easterling; Cornwall; 2001
Physical description
Same-size, direct photographic replica of a large, exotic leaf.
Gallery label
Cameraless Photography

Angela Easterling (b.1944)
Sterculia quinqueloba (Large-leaved Star Chestnut) and Ocroma lagopus (Balsa)
2001
Gelatin silver prints
47.5 x 40 cm
Museum nos. E.1429, 1430-2001

Easterling demonstrates here the difference in density between leaves high up on a tree, through which light must pass, like the chestnut leaf, and those nearer the ground, like the balsa leaf, which need to absorb as much of the available light as possible.

Angela Easterling born 1944
Balsa (Ochroma lagopus)
2001

Easterling made this pair of images during her research on the properties of plants for the Eden Project in Cornwall. She used photography to explore the penetration of light through leaves. In these two different plant species, the variation in colour illustrates differences in their patterns of light absorption, reflection and transmission.

Cornwall
Gelatin-silver print (photograph)
Given by the Eden Project, St Austell, 2001
V&A: E1429-2001
Credit line
Given by The Eden Project
Production
Made at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
Subject depicted
Leaf (Plant Material)
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.1429-2001

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Record createdMarch 21, 2002
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O64475/balsa-ochroma-lagopus-photograph-easterling-angela/
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