Rachel Dein: Botanical Bas-relief Originator

Few things in life are consistent. It only takes a moment for your world to change drastically. Rachel Dein had her life shift like this at only nineteen, and at that point was when she found herself turning to something reliable and grounding. She found peace in plants. 

“To some extent it was some degree of therapy… I found solace in plants growing. So I had always grown plants.”

Inspired by plants' ability to grow even in the strangest or abandoned places, Rachel decided to center one of her shows around growing plants in unusual places. 

“When I saw plants growing in houses that had been derelict or coming up through the tarmac, just that sort of power of nature to survive and to carry on that cycle, I found that very comforting.”

Rachel’s true passion has become imprinting plants into clay, creating castings of them so that you can see the intricate beauty in the details of the flowers and leaves. She describes this process similar in a way to the pinning of butterflies in that it reflects the innate human desire to want to be involved in these natural settings.

“I think what I'm doing is permanence, and I want to make something that is ephemeral into something permanent.”

A film by Camilla Fantinati.

Music by Massimo Fantinati.

Additional photos provided by Andrew Montgomery https://www.andrewmontgomery.co.uk/