Gravedigger’s Daughter is excited to present a solo exhibition by Emme Rovins. notes from a body inverted features a selection of silver gelatin prints in bespoke wooden frames that seek to reveal the similarities between botanical taxonomy and the construct of the feminine body. Please join us for a reception with the artist during Artwalk Waldoboro on September 27, from 6-8 pm.

Plant taxonomy is one of the earliest scientific disciplines that emerged thousands of years ago, before the societal contributions of the Greeks and Romans. Modern day modes of botanical taxonomy are still based on a system that focusedattention on the organs of generation within plants. Thesehuman-plant analogies resulted in a surprising reliance on corporeal language to describe the fructification of plant species and reinforcing the human basis of understanding as relentlessly contingent upon the constructed understanding of our own bodies..

The vast majority of queer history has been done almost entirely in secret, resulting in the creation of coded languages. Lesbian historiographies rely on deciphering these codes in an effort to unveil the fragmented stories of lesbian existence throughout time.

“notes from a body inverted” combines evidence of these secret histories and coded languages with the subversion of the visual language of traditional botanical illustration to imagine an attempt to taxonomize through the understanding of a queer body.

About the artist:

Emme Rovins (b. 1997, Southern New Jersey) is a photographer currently based in Kennebunk, Maine. Rovins’s reverence for the natural world alongside her progressively intricate understanding of the relationship between sexuality and identity culminates in her photographic practice. Weaving aspects of the landscape into visual metaphors, Rovins negotiates her relationship to the land in order to gain a deeper understanding of her own sexuality. She considers the lineage of landscape photography throughout the history of the medium, particularly due to its male domination, as she ritualizes the act of a woman exploring the woods under the cover of darkness.

For more information, visit gravediggersdaughter.org or follow us on instagram @thegravediggersdaughter or contact Jen Barrows <office@gravediggersdaughter.org>. Gravedigger's Daughter is located at 882 Main Street, Waldoboro, ME 04572