Using plant samples from digital herbarium databases across the world, I meticulously reconstruct extinct flora species using 3D rendering software and “plant” them into video footage shot at the precise site where they were last documented in the wild. Building on Haraway’s theory of partial reconciliation or “getting on together,” this video series folds extinct species into contemporary places where natural ecosystems have been disrupted by human industry and culture. Hundreds of native plants around the world have become extinct or near-extinct in the last 100 years: human “progress” literally paved the way for parking lots, super-sized stores, and shopping malls.
This project is not about choosing between utopian visions or dystopian nightmares; it is about staying with the trouble and imagining an imperfect future where simultaneously existing truths can coexist. A place where there is an intricate web of multi-species narratives, where speculative fabulation thrives.