*Also available 96x121cm in editions 3&4*
Disassembly (2014) consists of images of plants and flowers, reminiscent of 19th century taxonomy and botanical drawings, as well as classical still life paintings. The plants on these photographs, however, are not just scientific illustrations, nor are they to be simply admired for their beauty. Instead Bownik ‘disassembled’ his subjects, only to put them back together, according to scientific methods and making use of ‘unnatural’ materials such as plastic cords and pushpins to restore the plant. A highly aestheticized albeit ambiguous effect is achieved by the emphasis on the beauty of the plants: at once demonstrating preoccupations with ‘beauty ideals’, as if the plants were subject to plastic surgery, and the moribund quest to unravel the secrets of nature, inviting further considerations on the relationship between photography and death.