The Tray Cloth series brings together images I have taken in the last few years of mostly my own garden and occasionally families gardens that I have a spent some time in and also a selection of tray cloths from a much wider collection spread throughout the family.
Photographing plants is pure indulgence, I can never tire at looking at plants as the closer you look the more you see. The beauty, intricacy, colour and form of plants and their flowers is what leads me to pick up my camera over and over. Natures ability to put together colour combinations and patterns has been a source of inspiration for much of my own painting and designs. My fascination with nature means I intensely enjoy the Arts and Crafts designs, Lalique’s Jewellery, Art Nouveau and of course embroidery which is so often depicting nature.
I am lucky enough to have a treasure trove of embroidery designs, cottons and an array of embroidered tray cloths from a collection that was once the stock of my Great Aunties Haberdashery shop in Invercargill. I have taken the designs from these tray cloths and matched them to the images of plants. These are designs that deserve to be seen and experienced again without the inconvenience of washing tray cloths or even figuring out what to do with them. There has been so much investment in their making and they would have brought an essence of nature so much in contrast to their artificial environment they derserve to be seen again.
Embroidering depictions of nature upon representations of nature is like nature squared, it’s me saying wow how great is nature, it’s just insanely clever and beautiful, I am constantly in awe of nature, this is my ode to nature.
Rosemary Horn January 2017
