Nepenthes

The artwork depicts a large carnivorous plant, namely the Nepenthes.
Nepenthes are very striking, beautiful and fascinating plants, which are either epiphytes or (more rarely) herbaceous. They have a semi-climbing stem, with leaves at the tips of which sits an ascidian trap, resembling a small ‘carafe’. Depending on the species, the size of the pitcher can vary from a few centimetres to half a metre. The pitchers are filled with a liquid that stuns prey, usually insects and small invertebrates. Animals that die inside the pitcher are then slowly broken down by the plant, dissolved and absorbed.
To the untrained eye, the plant appears to have ‘normal’ leaves with a sort of hanging ‘cup’ attached to the tip of each leaf. It is precisely the characteristics of these hanging ascidia that give these plants their beauty. The ascidia are often coloured red to purple, with black, green, yellow or orange markings. The edges of the ascidium’s opening are often fringed or hairy, silky or even hooked. The combinations of shapes and colours in these plants are often truly incredible.
In the artwork, they are depicted as large leaves, from which slender branches branch out, leading to the ‘pod/jug/glass’; these elements are set apart by frames (black/mourning and white/pure, celestial), the idea of the frame representing a display case, an urn, a closed, isolated space.
The plants stand at the moment of their sacrifice; human figures emerge and peer out from the ‘glasses’, yet they seem to dwell serenely within this ‘sleeping bag’, this niche, as if calmly facing their fate. It is the death of one for the life of another.
Nature rebels!!… It engulfs human life and feeds upon it. A debt repaid.