Tecomanthe

Tecomanthe

Pristine and elegant, Techomanthe belongs to a lineage of photographs that Peter Peryer composed of flowers and plants. In 2012, he wrote, “When I look back on my photographic career, I can see that it has been quite botanical. Mind you, at an early stage of my life I did study some science subjects at secondary school and university, I've always been in awe of science. In lab classes sometimes I was required to dissect flowers and draw all the individual parts, sometimes in Indian Ink. It has been said that photography has a science father and an art mother.”

An avid gardener, some of the flowers and plants that appear in Peryer’s images, like Techomanthe, came from his garden, while others reflect his compulsion to bring items home from errands, outings and travels. A well-known, early example of this approach are the early trio, Neenish Tarts, Jam Rolls and Doughnuts (1983), which Peryer noticed in the window of a local bakery. Entranced by the aesthetic of their patterning, he purchased them solely to rearrange at home and to photograph.

Regardless of how they came to be found, these items formally arranged by Peryer are stripped of context and reduced to a series of lines and shapes in an almost scientific manner. This approach shows how Peryer was impacted by artists like Edward Weston and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy who worked within the tradition of international modernist photography. This movement saw photographers experimenting with the aesthetic possibilities of their medium. Rather than depict a scene as accurately as possible, modernist photographers favoured exploring the effects of factors such as light, composition and abstraction on their subject matter.

— Sian van Dyk, 2023