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Antique botanical treasures from the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka Department of Botany have inspired a new exhibition from the first artist collaborators to hold the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship.

Radicant, the culmination of a year’s fellowship work by partners Miranda Bellamy and Amanda Fauteux, opens at the Hocken Collections on 15 February.

The title is a botanical term meaning a plant that can root from its stem, Fauteux says.

“We like this word’s poetic potential. We’ve thought about the ways plants have historically been identified, described, classified, and also distributed.”

There are three distinct works in the exhibition, but each one is connected through these threads, she says.

The Fellows have been “enamoured” by the Botany department’s collection of antique Brendel anatomical models of plant specimens. These pieces were made in Berlin and were procured for Otago in the late 1800s.

“There are so many stories to draw from these objects and they’ve become the subject of a video installation we made in collaboration with poet Colleen Coco Collins, which will feature in our upcoming fellowship exhibition,” says Fauteux.

Discovering the Brendel collection cued an interest in learning 3D scanning, modelling and animating technologies, she says.

During their 2024 fellowship, the artists made a large-scale glass sculpture, a video work using 3D animation, and an eight-channel audio work, among many other projects initiated in the studio.

Each work required learning about the potential and the limitations of new materials and software, connecting with new collaborators, and thinking on new time scales.

The partners met in Canada in 2018 where Bellamy, who comes from Ōtepoti, was attending an artist’s residency.

They share time living within the traditional territory of Mi’kma’ki, known as Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada, and in Ōtepoti.

Through interdisciplinary outcomes, their work considers human entanglements with other animals, plants, fungi, and minerals, and is informed by site-specific research.

Since 2019 they’ve collaborated with each other on various projects and exhibitions, and the Otago fellowship was the perfect opportunity to explore new directions.

“We’ve had a busy few years with many exhibition outcomes, which has been so rewarding, but it hasn’t always left a lot of space for research and innovation in our practice,” says Bellamy.

“Being offered the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship is an honour. The tradition of artistic dedication and experimentation that it represents is inspiring to us.”

The artists say they love the way audiences bring their own experiences and observations to the table when spending time with their work.

“For us, the work we’ve made this year has continued to challenge our own expectations and preconceptions of plants and has helped us to further consider our reciprocal relationships with others, including plants,” says Bellamy.

Hocken Curator Art Hope Wilson says it has been amazing to work with the artists and watch the exhibition come together over the past 12 months.

“Radicant is a beautifully conceived and executed project and we’re delighted to host it in the Hocken Gallery.

“We can’t wait to open the exhibition on Saturday 15 February and start welcoming in visitors.”

Radicant runs at the Hocken Collections until 26 April, 2025.