Avant que nature meure is book that examines a search for hybrid orchids by the artist and curator Silvia Cini and is published in conjunction with the first stage of Cini’s project of the same name (Before Nature Dies) at the Botanical Gardens in Budapest.
The formation of hybrids is a relatively frequent phenomenon in wild orchids, due to the use of pollinating insects to transfer gametes from one flower to another. The artist is attracted to the beauty of these tiny plants, capable of reproducing the form, colour and odour of the animal linked to their pollination, a silent mutual support. They distract her from the clamour of the world. Their silent message, she says, is crystallised in form, leaving her defenceless to seek answers to life’s tribulations.
Quodlibet, 152pp, 17cm x 24cm, illustrated paperback, Italian/English text
