ImPlanting, Natalia Ershova

The modern city is a construction of steel, concrete, and glass. Belgrade is no exception. The space created by man for himself has become an environment that shapes, dreads, and confines him and all living things trapped in the city. This work is an observation of the process of nature’s return to the strictly delineated confines of the urban landscape. It is no longer wild, spontaneous nature, capable of breaking the boundaries, but ordered, trained elements: neat flowerbeds, planted trees, ornamental bushes, carpets of artificial lawns. Vegetation is embedded in the architectural fabric of the city as a necessary but controlled, safe, and subordinate element. These green inclusions enliven the environment but also mask, primarily for ourselves, our alienation from the world around us, creating a collective illusion of caring for the environment.

ImPlanting records the return of plants to the place from which they were previously displaced – under conditions dictated by the city and man.

Self-published
Hardcover, open spine
112 pages
148 x 210 mm