Artist Mona Caron is gradually transforming the common belief that wildflowers aren’t usually discovered within the metropolis areas. The San Francisco-based designer has been working on her ongoing WEEDS series, producing gigantic murals of plant life, including a 20-story mural of a flower sprouting from the building in Jersey City.
Source: Mona Caron
Her artwork illustrates a plant native to the region, whose name is Eutrochium, after having been commissioned by the Jersey City Mural Arts Program. One of these wildflowers was apprehended in magnificent detail, placed against a stark black ground that highlights the plant’s red-and-green palette, recalling the vintage botanical illustrations through the format of the painting.
Source: Mona Caron
Commissioned by the Jersey City Mural Arts Program, the piece depicts a plant that is native to the site called Eutrochium. Caron captures one of these wildflowers in exquisite detail and places it against a stark black background that enhances the red-and-green palette of the plant. In this way, the format of the painting recalls vintage botanical illustrations.
Source: Mona Caron
“I’m calling the piece Shauquethqueat’s Eutrochium. It is not actually a weed but a wildflower native to this area,” Caron explains. “It turns out that the common name of this Eutrochium purpureum I painted—Joe Pye Weed—refers to the western name of a Native American healer of the 19th century, who is said to have utilized this plant in phytotherapy. His Mohican name is transcribed as Shauquethqueat.”
Source: Mona Caron
“This anecdote works well with the questions I always like to raise with my WEEDS series, regarding what belongs to the land and what doesn’t, who is invading and what is at home, in addition to thoughts about ways to overcome, to resist, to reconquer what has been lost and damaged through western human intervention.”
Source: Mona Caron
Caron's latest projects are displayed on her Instagram.
Source: Mona Caron
Source: Mona Caron