Hortus Conclusus by Donna Brennan

Artist list

Donna Brennan

Brennan explores the materiality of a 2D image by adding an embellished third dimension which has been extracted and crafted – or ‘borrowed’ – from the photographic image upon which it is mounted. The images are laminated with a faceted lucite façade, which acts as a beacon for the interplay of light and imparts a sense of intrigue. Creating a view finder to an inner world, the lucite object creates a microcosm within the macrocosm of the larger image – a ‘hortus conclusus’, an enclosed garden of veritable earthly delights.

Derived from the Latin term for ‘enclosed garden’, Hortus Conclusus is a series of wearable sculptural art pieces, crafted from a mélange of minerals, stones, and silver and presented against an ethereal photographic backdrop of dye-sublimation floral images printed on aluminium.