In times of environmental crisis, plastic proliferation, and the mass extinction of animal and plant species, EXIT #98 proposes an approach that goes beyond the artistic and aesthetic to an openly domestic and widespread phenomenon: the current proliferation of artificial reproductions of global flora, and how this also affects photographic representation, both in terms of scientific botanical photography and in the recreation of nature and daily life in Western societies. The ontological components of this substitution of the natural for the artificial are very well defined by the philosopher Michael Marder, a leading figure in a new current that advocates for the inclusion of the study of how plants communicate with their environment within the broader framework of human philosophy, as a last attempt to avoid our own extinction. He has written an interesting essay exclusively for EXIT in which he analyzes the metabolic problems of plastic compared to natural sources, and the effects this will have on our societies until a broader understanding and knowledge of plants is addressed.

Toya Legido and Lucía M. Diz, photography historians, tell the story of botanical photography as an independent genre linked to the very origins of photography, and how the vision of this "plant" photography has evolved in parallel with key aspects of contemporary culture, decade by decade. These essays are accompanied by images from artists spanning the 19th to the 21st centuries, including pioneers such as Anna Atkins and Karl Blossfeldt, as well as contemporary photographers like Joachim Koester, Wolfgang Tillmans, Olga Cafiero, Elspeth Diederix, Kathrin Linkersdorff, Kim Schoen, Anaïs Tondeur, Dornith Doherty, Rafael Navarro, Cecilia Paredes, Alice Pallot, and Alberto Baraya, among others.

The dossiers, dedicated to this central theme, are signed by six photographers: Paula Anta, with two series that deal with opposing poles, the natural and the artificial in reality and in photography today; Robert Voit with the series on antenna trees and their transformation of the landscape; José Ramón Ais, with his series on common, humble and resilient herbs; Wendy McMurdo, with her most recent works, on the symbolic magic of plants and their relationship with the history of thought in her homeland; Vik Muniz, with one of his lesser-known works, his most recent botanical series; Michael Wolf, with his homage to Hong Kong, where nature struggles to survive the concrete jungle; and Joan Fontcuberta, with his historic Herbarium series from 1982 juxtaposed with his more recent De Rerum Natura, made in 2024 using AI.

EXIT #98 closes with the Portfolio section, which, apart from the main theme, showcases the work of emerging photographers or those who are establishing their careers on the international scene. This issue features the work of Randa Mirza (Lebanon), Laura San Segundo & Alejandría Cinque (Spain), Megan Doherty (Northern Ireland), and Dulcie Wagstaff (United Kingdom).

176 pages

21 × 26 cm

Spanish / English