Why would an astronomer one day pick a flower is the first stage of a long-term research project long term (Squeezing Flowers to Death) and began as a visual translation of a series of optics experiments carried out in the summer of 1845 by Mary Somerville, an English mathematician and English astronomer, and collected in a letter entitled On the Action of the Rays of the Spectrum on Vegetable Juices. Sommerville carried out the experiments as a follow-up to an open with his friend John Herschel, who was studying the possibility of developing photographs in color and experimenting with the reaction of vegetable juices to light and their possible use for this purpose. To realize these experiments, Mary Somerville devoted part of her spare time to extracting coloured juices from different flowers in her garden and observing the reaction that different rays of the light spectrum had on them, sometimes by mixing them into solutions with other substances, sometimes by leaving them pure. 

Our decision to work on this particular letter stems from our curiosity about this woman, generally engaged in scanning the sky and observing comets or in translating mathematical formulas for pedagogical purposes but who, within a dialogue with her intellectual friend, decides to engage her time in the company of the flowers of her garden and to turn his gaze and attention to minute variations of light and color, describing them within a letter that, despite the methodological rigour, turns out to be highly poetic and of crucial aesthetic value. Hence, it is necessary to translate it first into Italian and then visually.

For us, translation is a mode of thinking together with Somerville, following his gaze and his hand step by step, somehow appropriating the practice through digestion and assimilation. This movement involves both the thought and the body. As Deleuze reminds us, every thought is translating, and every act of translation is simultaneously a thinking practice. That is why the translations we work on are free reworkings contaminated by our doing and gaze. Among the forms the translation is taking is a series of sixteen compositions graphics created from the floral diagrams of flowers used by Mary in her experiments, an installation consisting of thirty-four watercolours loosely inspired by the results of the optics experiments, a performance dinner/round table based on the ingredients edibles used in the experiments, as well as an installation of the text translated into Italian.

Context of the project

Why would an astronomer one day pick a flower is the first part of the project Squeezing Flowers to Death, which was born from the meeting of Chiara Bertin and Caterina Giansiracusa, two artists and researchers committed to bringing to light forgotten stories and unique perspectives

through a multidisciplinary approach that blends archival research and techniques of experimental photography.

Inspired by the practices and words of female scientists, photographers, and literary figures from centuries past, Bertin and Giansiracusa built their work on a constellation map. This map weaves together histories often ignored or intentionally forgotten, revealing how historical events of different natures are connected, like the stars in a constellation. Still, their meaning emerges only through our contemporary perspective cone. Using basic experimental photographic techniques and archival research, the two artists explore the invisible connections between people, places and events. Their approach combines visual and narrative elements to create an intricate fabric of stories that challenge historical and cultural conventions.

Squeezing Flowers to Death is an art project that attempts to redefine and expand the landscape of historical and cultural narratives through contemporary art.

photos credits: Francesca Migliorin