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183 Postcards of Rhododendron ponticum
BOX WITH 183 UNIQUE POSTCARDS
Yan Wang Preston (CN/GB)
Photography:
Yan Wang Preston
Design:
Carel Fransen
→ CUSTOM CARDBOARD BOX WITH 183 UNIQUE NUMBERED POSTCARDS
With Love. From an Invader. – Rhododendrons, Empire, China and Me is an intensive field study. Every other day for a year, Yan Wang Preston (CN/GB) went to a particular love-heart-shaped Rhododendron ponticum shrub and photographed it. In the process she also found a thriving ecology with the rhododendrons as the key stone species. British rhododendrons are all introduced plants, brought from southern Europe and East Asia for science and horticulture. Although still common and a much-loved sight in most British gardens, it is frequently labelled as non-native invasive. The contested perceptions of rhododendrons suggest that politics is at play within the apparent objectivity of science. The book is a love letter from a non-native species to the cosmopolitan ecology of contemporary Britain.
This custom box with 183 unique postcards show every image Wang Preston took of the same heart-shaped Rhododendron ponticum shrub at the Shedden Clough Limestone Hushings in Burnley (Lancashire), every other day for a whole year. All postcards are hand numbered. Each box is also numbered, and published in an open edition.
Yan Wang Preston is a Chinese British visual artist interested in landscape representation, identity, migration, and the environment. Her other projects include Mother River (Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2018), Forest (Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2018) and Three Easier Pieces (2021-ongoing). Yan Wang Preston’s work is critically acclaimed. In 2023 she was the recipient for the inaugural Royal Photographic Society Award for Environmental Responsibility. In 2019 she won the 1st Prize in Professional Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions at prestigious venues including the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, UK; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Messums London; Gallery of Photography Ireland, Dublin; Three Gorges Museum, Chongqing, China and the 56th Venice Biennale. Wang Preston holds a PhD in Photography and a BSc in Clinical Medicine. She lectures at the University of Huddersfield. Her UK print sales is represented by Messums London.