Daisyworld

Brooke Benington is pleased to present Daisyworld, a solo exhibition by Nona Inescu that explores the intricate interplay of species and materials in a speculative, post-human environment. Daisyworld draws inspiration from the mathematical model developed by James Lovelock and Andrew Watson in 1984, which simulates a hypothetical world orbiting a star with fluctuating radiant energy. The model, designed to support the Gaia hypothesis, features black and white daisies that regulate the planet’s temperature through their respective abilities to absorb and reflect light. Inescu reimagines this concept to examine the hybrid relationships between humans, nature, and non-human species.

In this new series, Inescu’s practice evolves by juxtaposing vegetal matter with materials such as brass. The exhibition’s central installation consists of a group of new sculptures of cast mutated daisies invading a large part of the gallery floor space. The daisies are modeled after malformed real-life specimens of Bellis perennis (Common daisy) found in radioactive areas such as Fukushima (Japan) and Chornobyl (Ukraine). Radiation, chemicals, diseases, a hormone imbalance, or random mutations to inherited genes could have induced flower deformity.

The vegetal motif recurs throughout the exhibition, symbolizing the delicate balance and self-regulation of ecosystems. Presented for the first time in the exhibition The Venus Trap in 2021, the works Brugmansia, Aristolochia, and Rosa canina (all 2021) are part of a body of photographs where a hand, coming into contact with different plant essences, gives birth to a new individual, a hybrid. The apparent simplicity of the image does not prevent it from being confusing: is it the hand that slips into the flower or the flower that swallows the hand? This improbable union creates a third term: the appearance of an animal silhouette, similar to the head of a bird with a long beak. Originally from South America, brugmansia is a plant which no longer exists in the wild, but which remains cultivated for its psychotropic properties, used by Andean shamans to enter a trance. In Nona Inescu’s work, the hand seems simultaneously to be captive and to wear the flower like a mask – a hummingbird mask for example. Through this simple gesture, the artist establishes an implicit link between evolutionary strategy, metamorphosis, and magic, blurring the distinction between cultural and natural data. The encounter with these works is both seductive and thought-provoking, revealing new ecosystems where the boundaries between the human, vegetal, and built environments blur. Inescu’s work encourages us to imagine new interactions and collaborations, producing a speculative landscape that contemplates the future of our interconnected world.