ABSTRACT
The primary effect of Kevin Collins’ leveraging of botanical memory is the broader appreciation of the Banksia genus in the experiences of his visitors, who go on to form positive memories of the plants and, by association, the southwest region. Botanical memory contains rich cultural information about plants, but also reveals critical ecological data, such as the former geographical distributions and flowering times of orchids. Simply put, memory is a vital element of southwest biocultural heritage. These projects conceptualize the heritage of southwest flora through the myriad ways in which plants inspire individuals and communities across time, including through memory. The memory of the sweet-bitter sensory transaction has inspired Holly’s continued exploration of eucalypt kino as creative substance. A salient example from the history of art is the English artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting Lamp of Memory depicting Mnemosyne, the Greek personification of memory, remembrance and language, gazing forward hypnotically as she holds a golden beacon.
