Memoriae Botanicum

A-M Petersons‘ exhibition Memoriae Botanicum explores the fluidity and dynamism of our local cityscapes. Over the last five years Petersons has been collecting botanical specimens from the homes on her street, rendering each as a black and white ink drawing on 4×6 postcard sized paper. This documentation has gone through bursts and droughts as she navigates life’s priorities and tragedies, elevating each of her findings to a format that is most often associated with travel documentation and small-scale storytelling.

Neighborhoods, streets, and city blocks showcase the economic climate and architectural trends of the day; dwellings and front gardens mirror the impulses of their inhabitants. Seattle is changing rapidly, buildings are being razed to make way for new construction. Entire neighborhoods are altered, often with their unique personalities lost forever.  During daily walks in Petersons’ neighborhood, she witnesses local landscapes being permanently altered by this new construction. Contemplating the changes in our landscape, she notices the displacement of modest homes also destroying the unique and historic “greenscape” of these neighborhoods. Most new homes are unveiled with a footprint that swallows the previous garden or with perfectly manicured, monochromatic front yards. Established heirloom plants, trees, and flowers are uprooted forever.  Since she’s started the project, already a couple of homes have been razed and gardens uprooted, emphasizing Memoriae Botanicum‘s historical significance, however small and hyper-local.

Petersons’ is drawn to the established gardens of Seattle, curious to understand the botanical imprint that previous generations have left on our local landscape and capture existing gardens before they disappear.

Memoriae Botanicum will be on display at Gallery 110 from October 5 – 28, 2023. Gallery hours are Thursday – Saturday from 12pm – 5pm and by appointment.