Daniel Shipp - Botanical Inquiry

DA N I E L S H I P P

B O TA N I C A L I N Q U I RY

B O TA N I C A L I N Q U I RY

Botanical Inquiry is a series of photographic studies depicting familiar yet fictional environments that I first started to explore in 2014.

In these compositions, the physical characteristics of the unremarkable plants I have collected from suburban streets become narrative elements which, when staged against the backdrop of common urban environments, question the contentious relationship between humans and nature. This relationship is reflected in the real / unreal qualities of the images, achieved in some part by manipulating the optical and staging properties of photography with a device that I have constructed that allows me to create the images “in camera� without relying on digital compositing techniques.

The ambiguous point of view conjured by the images is designed to be as unsettling as it is seductive.

DA N I E L S H I P P

Daniel creates fine art photographs in addition to his editorial and commercial career. He is most well known for Botanical Inquiry, his atmospheric series of constructed scenes depicting everyday plants against a backdrop of urban environments.

Daniel began his career in film and television, where he gradually found himself drawn to his interest in light and photography. At 24 years of age he began studying Photomedia at Sydney College of the Arts, graduating with an honors degree in Bachelor Visual Arts and the Sydney University medal.

In 2017 Botanical Inquiry won first place in the Fine Art category of the Magnum and LensCulture Photography Awards, resulting in exposure to a large international audience for his work.

His work has also featured as a finalist in the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography award, and the Bowness Prize 2015, gaining a high commendation for the latter. Early in his career he was awarded the Phototechnica Award for New Australian Photo-Artist of the Year.

He has had solo shows at May Space, Saint Cloche and Adelaide Perry galleries in Sydney, and notably was part of Antipodean Inquiry a group show representing Australian and New Zealand Australian artists at Yavuz Gallery in Singapore.

In November 2018 Thames & Hudson published Truth, Beauty, Chaos and Plants, which Daniel co-authored with Georgina Reid, founder of the online publication The Planthunter.

Botanical Inquiry 01 Defunct Industrial Site, 2014 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 02 Arterial Road Duct, 2014 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 03 Residential Embankment, 2014 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 04 Adjacent To Freeway, 2014 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 05 Idle Railway Land, 2014 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 06 Utilities Access Route, 2015 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 07 Established Supply Corridor, 2015 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 08 Regeneration at Perimeter, 2015 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 09 Rezoned Industrial Division, 2015 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 10 Mixed Use Enclosure, 2015 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 7 + 2 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 14 + 2 AP

Botanical Inquiry 11 North Facing Gradient, 2015 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP 19.8 cm x 15.8 cm Edition of 100

Botanical Inquiry 12 Southern Remedial Exclusion, 2015 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 144 cm x 115 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP

Botanical Inquiry 13 Sheltered Urban Extremity, 2015 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 144 cm x 115 cm Edition of 5 + 1 AP 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP

Botanical Inquiry 14 Western Precinct Activity, 2016 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP 19.8 cm x 15.8 cm Edition of 100

Botanical Inquiry 15 Inactive Facility Surrounds, 2018 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP

Botanical Inquiry 16 Data Hub Aberration, 2018 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP

Botanical Inquiry 17 Western Landing, 2018 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP

Botanical Inquiry 18 Central Stream Reserve, 2018 Pigment Ink-jet on Museum Etching paper 86 cm x 68.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP 51 cm x 40.5 cm Edition of 10 + 1 AP

MAY SPACE 409b George Street Waterloo NSW 2017 DANIEL SHIPP info@mayspace.com.au mayspace.com.au +61 2 9318 1122

daniel@danielshipp.com danielshipp.com