In times of environmental crisis, the proliferation of plastics, and the mass extinction of animal and plant species, EXIT #98 proposes a look beyond the artistic and aesthetic at an openly domestic and widespread phenomenon: the current proliferation of artificial reproductions of global flora, and how this also affects photographic representation, both in terms of scientific botanical photography and in the recreation of the natural and everyday life in Western societies. The ontological components of this substitution of the natural for the artificial are well defined by philosopher Michael Marder , champion of a new movement that advocates for the inclusion of the study of how plants communicate with their environment within the broader framework of human philosophy, as a last-ditch attempt to avoid our own extinction. He has written an interesting essay exclusively for EXIT in which he analyzes the metabolic problems of plastic compared to natural materials, and the effects that this will have on our societies as long as we do not address a broader understanding and knowledge of plants.
Toya Legido and Lucía M. Diz , photography historians, tell us the history of botanical photography as an autonomous genre linked to the very origins of photography, and how the vision of this “plant” photography has evolved in parallel with some key aspects of contemporary culture, decade after decade. These essays are accompanied by images of artists from the 19th to the 21st century, including pioneers such as Anna Atkins and Karl Blossfeldt, and contemporary photography artists such as Joachim Koester, Wolfgang Tillmans, Olga Cafiero, Elspeth Diederix, Kathrin Linkersdorff, Kim Schoen, Anaïs Tondeur, Dornith Doherty, Rafael Navarro, Cecilia Paredes, Alice Pallot, and Alberto Baraya, among others.

The dossiers, dedicated to this central theme, are signed by six photographers: Paula Anta, with two series that deal with opposite poles, the natural and the artificial in reality and in today’s photography; Robert Voit with the series on antenna trees and their transformation of the landscape; José Ramón Ais, with his series on common, humble and resilient herbs; Wendy McMurdo, with her most recent works, on the symbolic magic of plants and their relationship with the history of thought in her land; Vik Muniz, with one of his lesser-known works, his most recent botanical series; Michael Wolf, with his homage to Hong Kong, where nature strives to survive concrete; and Joan Fontcuberta, with his historic Herbarium series from 1982 confronted with his most recent De Rerum Natura , made in 2024 with AI.
EXIT #98 closes with the Portfolio section, which, aside from the main theme, showcases the work of emerging photographers or those who are establishing their careers on the international scene. This time, we feature the work of Randa Mirza (Lebanon), Laura San Segundo & Alejandría Cinque (Spain), Megan Doherty (Northern Ireland), and Dulcie Wagstaff (United Kingdom).
SUMMARY:
Publisher: Rosa Olivares. Tell them with plastic flowers .
Essays: Michael Marder. On the flowering of plastic desire: artificial plants and metabolic rifts .
Toya Legido and Lucía M. Diz. Photographs of plants: Impressions of the natural and the artificial .
Dossier artists: Paula Anta, Robert Voit, Vik Muniz, José Ramón Ais, Wendy McMurdo, Michael Wolf, Joan Fontcuberta, Fernando Montiel Klint.
Portfolio artists: Randa Mirza, Laura San Segundo & Alejandría Cinque, Megan Doherty, Dulcie Wagstaff.

Publication date: Oct 2025