Ellas ilustran botánica

The exhibition Ellas Ilustran Botánica (“Women Illustrate Botany”) in Spain explores the overlooked role of women in the history of botanical illustration. Developed by researchers from the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the project highlights how women contributed to scientific culture despite long-standing restrictions on female participation in academia.

First launched in 2020, the exhibition evolved into a large cultural archive featuring hundreds of women artists and more than 300 works, including illustrations, books, photographs, sculptures and audiovisual pieces. It shows how botanical illustration became an important way for women to engage with science across five centuries.

The exhibition traces this history from seventeenth-century artists such as Giovanna Garzoni and Alida Withoos to pioneers like Maria Sibylla Merian in the eighteenth century, and nineteenth-century figures including Mary Delany and Elizabeth Twining. Alongside these historical works, contemporary artists such as Anne Geene, Claudia Fährenkemper and Katie Scott demonstrate how botanical imagery continues to connect science, publishing and contemporary art through photography, digital techniques and experimental visual practices.