Portraits of Place

Portraits of Place is part of a series of site-specific botanical collaborations that honor the land and our connection to it, created by artist Hillary Waters Fayle.

Sourced from parks, gardens, or private properties, each piece pays tribute to the people who have come before—those who tilled the soil, planted seeds, or tended trees and flowers. Pressed and preserved plant materials are carefully arranged and adhered to paper or acrylic, visually reflecting the spectrum of human interaction with nature, from wild meadows to formal gardens. The patterns formed by leaves, petals, and seeds express a deeper structure of connection within the natural world and our shared experiences.

When a blueprint is to be made, the finished arrangement is placed over watercolor paper coated with UV-sensitive iron salts. Exposed to sunlight, the leaves cast shadows that block the rays, creating a striking contrast once the paper is rinsed and dried: deep blue where the sun touched, and pale hues where shadows fell. This cyanotype process—the original method for making blueprints—mirrors the themes of the work itself: sunlight as a life-giving force, essential to plants, to the cotton in the paper, and to the image-making process. The result is both a visual record and a symbolic reflection of the land’s enduring story.