Clara Fischer is a research based artist who uses science fiction to talk about humanity’s relationship with the natural, and the impact this relationship has on food systems. Her practice is an extension of her core belief for environmental justice and an examination of the impacts caused by agriculture. These passions are a reflection of her upbringing in rural New Jersey and parents’ joy for the outdoors. Her printmaking and material explorations delve into the extraordinary capabilities of plants and enthuse the vast unknowns of the plant world. Clara allows her interdisciplinary practice to be dictated by material and earth sciences.
Hyperaccumulating plants and root structures are a particular area of interest. Hyperaccumulating plants are those that absorb heavy metals out of the ground at rates up to a thousand times more than other plants. These plants are often found in deserted industrial complexes and are slowly but surely absorbing the contaminants left behind from the ground. In addition to the potential the unique quality of these plants provide for soil health, they have also become a catalyst for her to connect the materiality her copper etching plates to the research content of her practice. In theory, could copper plates be sourced from smelted down hyperaccumulating plants?
Clara has currently begun the early stages of her life’s work, Uncommon Biologies of the Uncommon World, a multivolume fictional encyclopedia exploring the incredible capability of plants to adapt to changing environments. While humanity has gotten our self in a bit of a pickle environmentally speaking, she believes the plant world will adapt to the environments we leave behind. Through creating a fictional world of species and scientific phenomena, she visually asks questions about how the land and its inhabitants will adapt to the changes brought forth by agricultural practices and food systems.
