Archival solander boxes, lined with maps of Australia, designed by the artist constructed by Keep Collect, United Kingdom.

Inspired by the plant hunters of colonial times, these boxes recall how trees were pressed, catalogued, and transformed into evidence of empire.  

Daniel Solander (1733–1782), Swedish botanist and student of Linnaeus, gave his name to the solander box. Originally designed to protect fragile manuscripts, maps, and pressed plants, the clam-shell box became a tool for holding the fragments of nature gathered on voyages of empire. On the Endeavour (1768–1771), Solander and Joseph Banks collected countless trees and plants from Australia, reducing living canopies to pages and specimens.

Each fragment is a trace: gum leaf, feather, pod, glass, plate, coral—objects gathered like bark, rings, seeds.

4 x solander boxes

LEGACY, GATHERINGS, EVIDENCE, ECHOES