This project explores the evolutionary history and cultural resonance of orchids, the largest and one of the most ancient families of flowering plants (Orchidaceae), comprising over 28,000 known wild species with hundreds discovered annually. Orchids’ remarkable adaptability—thriving on every continent except Antarctica—mirrors both biological resilience and symbolic nobility in East Asian art traditions.

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The drawing The Roots of the Orchid originated during a 2019 residency at the Chusa Memorial Museum on Jeju Island, South Korea. Inspired by Chusa Kim Jeong-hui’s (1786–1856) exile-era orchid paintings—icons of humility and endurance on barren volcanic slopes—the work extends beyond Chusa’s pictorial leaves and flowers to visualize the abstract evolutionary lineage of the entire family, tracing genetic and temporal roots across deep time.

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In collaboration with Atticus Sims (as Studio Pollen), an AI model was trained on images of 61 orchid genera beginning with ‘A’ (from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew database). The resulting series, The Metamorphosis of the Plants, generates novel digital orchid species, paying homage to Goethe’s 1790 Urpflanze concept of an archetypal plant form predating DNA discovery by over 150 years.

 

The 3D-printed sculpture A is for Orchid materializes one AI-generated form, encased in its own support structures. This work bridges traditional ink scholarship, genomic science, and generative AI to reveal hidden life patterns in plants.