Krödde (2017-2018)

Seemingly ordinary roadside plants (krödde is Groningen dialect for weeds) from the former island of Middag have been transported in laboratory glassware to the photography studio, root and all. The photographs refer to a long tradition of research and elevation. The era in which plants were first given greater appreciation for their beauty than for their function is embodied by the gardens of Versailles. What was once fuel, food or building material was then examined and elevated to a philosophical object. Countless plant books and paintings have been produced since. Rob de Jong looks at plants from this baroque tradition, as a research object and as a symbol of transience. He created the work in the overwhelming nature surrounding his little village in Groningen, photographing on old glass negatives that were almost a hundred years past their date, and printing them on vintage photographic paper.