Rachel Loischild

While at home during the pandemic I have been inspired by 18th-century artist Barbara Regina Dietzsch’s botanical paintings. Using my scanner, I layer glass from vintage frames, plants, and insects composing diorama-like vignettes. The imagery combines a feminist reflection on the history of science, botanical drawing being the one place women were allowed to participate, as well as a sense of whimsy found in the micro-narratives created with insects and plants that directly reference children’s literature and picture book art.  All of the insects and plants in the work were found around my home or on my daily short walks in the neighborhood. In this selection I highlight the yellow rose, a symbol of the suffrage movement worn by suffragette leaders and supporters as a sign of solidarity. The use of flowers to support suffrage dates back to 1867 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony used sunflowers, the state flower of Kansas, to support a state-level suffrage referendum. The golden yellow color was then adopted for the movement. “gold, the color of light and life, is as the torch that guides our purpose, pure and unswerving.” The Suffragist, Vol. 1 No. 4 December 6, 1913