THE ALMOND TREES PROJECT
IKEBANA projects introduces ’The Almond Trees project’ - a collaboration with London-based artist Anna Skladmann which echoes one of the founding principles of Ikebana: despite the plant materials being a product of nature Ikebana reflects the person who arranged it and the times we live in. Inspired by Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom (1890) and empowered by its message of awakening, hope, new life and spring, Skladmann arranged the flowers using a very unusual Ikebana vessel – a scanner. The original meaning of the relationship between Ikebana and space was entirely transformed. The pre-programmed light of the scanning machine acted as a simple brushstroke on the surface of the glass while the machine itself was exposed to natural elements of water, air and light. Opening a dialogue between the space and the viewer, plant materials and technology, tradition and modernity enabled Skladmann to create a repositioning that generates hope in a time of natural adversity.
MEET the artists
Following an online art residency with the Japanese Ikebana artist Makiko Morange, Anna Skladmann immersed herself in the philosophy of ikebana, practiced this ancient art form and transformed it through the perspective of her work.
Artist Anna Skladmann wearing a hoodie ‘Almond Tree II - Gold’ from her capsule collection. Photography by Cedric Bardawil for IKEBANA projects.
“I’ve always been interested in showing a shift of perception on nature through the technology and process I use. We don’t encounter nature in a way that I represent it with bare eyes. Learning about the art form of Ikebana enables me to incorporate mindfulness, stillness and slowing down process in my practice. Working with Ikebana artist Makiko Morange taught me to use plants and flowers without fearing to create your own version of it: trimming, taking apart and re-assembling, pinching and twisting - this new freedom helped me to create my very own botanical lexicon through the language of Ikebana.”
— Anna Skladmann, Artist
“It has been incredibly exciting to collaborate with an artist from a different field. Seeing Anna’s creative process and being involved in it opened new possibilities for me through a totally new perspective of photography and contemporary art. It is fascinating to see Anna transform the ideas of Ikebana in her own unique way.”
— Makiko Morange, Ikebana artist
Ikebana artist Makiko Morange. Photography by Yulia Skogoreva for IKEBANA projects.
LIMITED EDITION ART PRINTS
A series of 4 limited-edition art prints featuring Anna Skladmann’s ‘Almond Trees’
CAPSULE COLLECTION
Anna Skladmann’s ‘Almond Trees’ prints play across our unisex capsule collection of t-shirts and hoodies
ABOUT ANNA SKLADMANN
Anna Skladmann (b. 1986, Germany) combines photography and scanning techniques to reflect on aspects of contemporary life as well as explore notions of nature and society. Skladmann engages with a scanner in a way reminiscent to the techniques used in early photo-graphic experiments which create diaphanous forms of the flowers and plants she captures. This unique process reflects the juxtaposition of technology with the delicacy of nature. Her recent work has explored the gendering of humans’ attitude towards the environment, and an interest in the possibilities for alternative female-focused narratives rooted in the natural world.
Having received her MA from the Royal College of Art and her BA from Parsons School of Design, her work has since been nominated for the Prix Pictet and Paul Huf Award, and has also won the Arles Photo Folio Prize. Skladmann published her first monograph in 2011 and her photographic projects have been shown in exhibitions and festivals, including the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, Museum of Modern Art in Moscow, Fotofest International in Houston, Unseen Photo Fair in Amsterdam and the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Permanent Collections include The Maramotti Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Stiftung für die Hamburger Kunstsammlung and The Pinault Collection.