Sadie E. Francis, botanical artist, urban ecologist, ecofeminist, creative biophilic consultant
All of my work, no matter what media I am working in, begins with an immersion, a touch, in the natural world, no matter how small or short. Hand foraged botanicals, insects, or animal remains set in resin, highlighting the complexity, fragility, changeability, and subtle intensity of this world, a world that my species, over the past few hundred years, have extracted ourselves from; declared ourselves separate and apart. While I am experimenting with rendering the ephemeral permanent, I witness the tumult of a rapidly changing world; processes that my species recklessly set in motion.
Cyanotypes, or sunprints, capture the shadows of plants set in rays of the same sun that have sustained them their whole lives. Resined collages evoke the Victorian genre of the diorama, since resin allows, with various layers, a three-dimensionality that can effectively communicate passing time. Many pieces incorporate the same plant in different phases (flowering, going to seed, dying), and insects in different life stages (pupa and adults), and compressed seasons happening all at once.
Every piece is unique and starts with observing little things, little processes, in large landscapes. I live next to one of the largest urban parks in the country, and long walks in these urban wilds is what both sustains and challenges me. My work is both an exploration and a meditation of wild nature, and human conceptualization of what wild nature is; I immortalize seeds of invasive plants, putting them in a different context: I pull apart flowers and reconstruct their parts in a new anatomy. I want to infuse each piece with my own creative style while bringing attention to the forms of seeds, dried husks, the fractal beauty of the wing of a cicada - forms which all of us ignore, overlook, or take for granted on a daily basis, like a song playing in the background that we have ceased to hear.
Ethically foraged pieces of the natural realm
Artist bio
Sadie Francis is a multi-media artist, activist, and creative biophilic consultant based in the Wissahickon Watershed on the ancestral lands of the Lenape people – or what is now known as Philadelphia, PA. Her work mostly focuses on the exploration of ecofeminist themes, natural cycles, and eco-anxiety and grief. Her inspiration is sourced from her awe, deep respect, and gratitude for the seemingly unlimited healing and bio remedial powers of the natural realm, which currently is being stretched to the brink. Over the last few years, Francis’s work has primarily focused around found and foraged both wild and cultivated botanical specimens, insects, and animal remains, and she uses to different media, including epoxy resin and cyanotype, to re-contextualize these specimens, enabling a “re-seeing” of their ephemeral and often underrepresented forms.
She has studied photography under Vik Muniz, Barbara Ess, and An-My Le. She has also studied Environmental Science and Policy at Columbia University, experience studying climatology, hydrology, environmental chemistry, and environmental ethics, which continues to inform her artistic work. For several years, she has served on the board of bioPhilly, an organization that seeks to raise the awareness of a new paradigm, biophilic urbanism, that marries the understanding of robust scientific evidence about urban stressors and nature-based solutions, with a recognition that humans are emotional beings with the need for meaningful and daily engagement with Nature. She has completed professional science communication and collaborative management work for two UN Consultancies, the US Department of Energy, and American Forests. Her work has been featured in several galleries and arboreta, including InLiquid Art Gallery, Goggleworks Art Center, Morris Arboretum, and Woodmere Museum.
