Plant Blindness Project | LEILA ALI | Visual Artist & Botanical Illustrator

The project consists of a series of photographs, videos, and botanical illustrations of wild plants in their habitat. I am interested in those wild plants that have become habituated to live in or near urban spaces without human care, basically because they are strong and resilient, but apparently, are also dull, without substantial beauty or remarkable shapes.

How often do we pass a plant and not notice it? How many of us can identify plants beyond the ones growing in our gardens or keeping them as houseplants? I believe not too many. Studies suggest that common plants are often overlooked and neglected. James H. Wandersee and Elisabeth E. Schussler describe this phenomenon as "plant blindness"*, a concept that summarizes the inability of humans to see, notice, or focus attention on plants in everyday life. The authors assert that we have become insensitive to the aesthetic qualities of plants and their structures.

My final series aims to draw attention to these common plants and invite the public to pay closer attention and appreciate the rich botanical diversity of the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve in Austin, Texas, which can sometimes go unnoticed and taken for granted.

*James H. Wandersee and Elizabeth E. Schussler, “Preventing Plant Blindness,” The American Biology Teacher 61, No. 2 (1999).