Francisca Prieto’s latest work is a true celebration of the concept of resilience through nature. The book that forms the material for this work not only explores one of nature’s oldest and hardiest plants, the fern, but is printed using a rare technique of reverence, naturselbsdruck or nature printing.

This dedicated process, pioneered and patented by Henry Bradury, takes an impression of the original object on a metal plate, effectively casting as close an image to the original form as possible. However, nature printing did not survive: with the tragic suicide of Bradbury in 1860 the process died with its champion, and no one in the UK ever used it again. Such a history only increases the enduring poignancy of this book to which the title makes reference. It captures the magnitude and determination of the survival of the ferns, which have been traced as far back as the Devonian Period, shaped over a staggering 419.2 million years. An ancient and adapting plant, most living strains possess correlated characteristics that bind them together in one remarkable
evolutionary line.

Across the tryptic Resilience, the many faces of the British fern are given a stage. Waving fans of fronds, unfurling from their prehistoric curl, dance to the breeze of evolution through Prieto’s folds. The fractal geometry of the fern, the mathematically revered pattern of division, holds our gaze, each varying yet consistent stem carrying our eye to the next. Rich greens, each detail darkening to the plant’s true imprint, bewitch our wandering eye, leading to delicate tips of buds and spirals of wandering leaf. Their growth across three works – the size an homage to such endurance – is illuminated by gleaming shards of metallic earth. The burning orange of copper mimics the rich soil.

Nature’s resilience is inspiring, and the humble beauty of the fern reminds us of our world’s origins, presenting natural perspective and a guiding hand toward a harmonious future.

Triptych: 155 x 84 x 9 cm | 155 x 70.5 x 9 cm | 155 x 84 x 9 cm. Framed