In these photos, Christensen seeks to question through the use of plants if we will better understand something when it is in isolation or removed from context. This is particularly provoking, considering that photography is a selective medium that disregards previous and post-context (we can only assume what has happened before and/or after the image was captured).

The simple use of a sheet of white paper and especially the created hole invites the viewer to do at least two things: wonder where these plants dwell, and observe the subject more closely than before. In effect, too, this blank white background creates the imagery of a lonely surviving plant that breaks through a bleak, featureless white environment.

The overall aesthetic is one that reminds me of nature diagrams from the journals of explorers. But because these are contemporary photographs, I feel a need to look once more, almost as a second discovery. These photos echo some regard of the plants as alien specimens, or at least ones that deserve a closer, careful inspection. The choice of blank white paper is the most purely empty choice I can think possible, which further attracts the attention of the viewer to the plant subject.

Through a lack of context, we may wonder, then, of scale or crowdedness in the plant’s nearby space. There are no other size references save for the plant itself (a few photos that show the environment past/around the white paper are exceptions to this). Context or a lack of context is a team player in this photo series, and the use of a “barrier” in each photo provides a source of inspiration for me.

My idea is to use mirror(s) or colored backdrops to create a slight barrier between a human subject and their environment. Though I appreciate the sentiment of context in these plant photos, I feel that switching plants with humans would revert to a current style of portraits that use a full backdrop. Instead, I will explore using a backdrop that does not entirely cover the subject’s surroundings so that I may expose the idea of a curated portrait amidst an authentic environment that would normally be cropped by the edge of the photograph’s frame.