Nothing on Earth Grows in Heaven, Maybe Photograph

From the solo exhibition Treasure Island by Mamakan at National Museum of Singapore on 28 April to 25 June 2017. "It (Singapore) abounds in an endless variety of plants equally interesting to the botanist, the agriculturist and the gardener, with unrivalled facilities and opportunities of disseminating these treasures and exchanging them for others". These words were written in 1822 by Nathaniel Wallich, a Botanist and the first Dane to arrive in the newly established settlement of Singapore. He found so much value in Singapore’s plant diversity he dubbed the local botanicals “treasures.” To colonial settlers the native plants were treasures because of their potential market value. In Wallach’s case, he was simply passionate about the wonders of mother nature. To the pre-colonial native inhabitants, the plants were valuable as the source of life itself. And yet, to most of us who live on this "Treasure Island" today, the local edible plants are barely visible at all. To find a treasure, sometimes you need to borrow someone else’s eyes. Or tastebuds. Or sense of smell. That is not enough: we must experience these treasures for ourselves in our own time and in our own modern way. You may begin to see what I have seen as I started on my own botanical love affair, and all that Wallich saw, and all that our ancestors have seen before that. Not only what they have seen, but also what they have tasted, touched and smelled. Through this alchemy, what was once of no value becomes immensely valuable, not because we can put a number on it—in fact, often we cannot—but for all that it teaches us about the world and our place in it. We are not apart from nature, we are a part of it. The Old World Tropics are home to the nutrient-rich winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), so called for the wings that run along its length. All the parts of this flying bean are edible, prompting some scientists to dub it "a supermarket on a stem" and “the wonder legume". Although this humble plant is much under-utilised, it has the potential to become a major multi-use food crop in the tropics. Fine Art photography Original, One Edition Only Certificate of Authenticity (COA) via ascribe.io

Multi-paneled Photography:Photo on Paper

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:200 W x 74 H x 1.6 D in

Number of Panels:2

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